It's a familiar feeling for Boro on the road

Today's Premiership game at Southampton will be the third time this season the Teessiders have faced a team on their travels with a newly installed manager at the helm.

The Teessiders made the journey to Lancashire in October and walloped Mark Hughes' sorry Blackburn side 4-0 with ace marksman Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink helping himself to a hat-trick.

Last month Steve McClaren took his team to the midlands to face former Boro boss Bryan Robson and West Bromwich Albion, and saw his side triumph 2-1.

McClaren admitted he expects a tougher contest this time around, however, and believes Harry Redknapp's Southampton will probably ask a lot more questions of his side; given his ability to turn things around quickly.

Redknapp controversially left Saints' rivals Portsmouth two week's ago and was installed as boss at St Mary's on Wednesday.

To say it caused a stir among the Pompey fans would be an understatement of the greatest proportions. The former West Ham manager confessed he left Portsmouth after chairman Milan Mandaric decided to install Velimir Zajec as the club's Director of Football.

"We know how difficult it will be," said McClaren. "They'll be really fired up for the game and it'll be a true test for our team.

"Harry plays football the right way. He has not survived in the game this long without doing the right things.

"He gets good players and people around him and produces good football teams and I'm sure he'll do the same at Southampton as he did at Portsmouth.

"The players he has there are not that much different to when they were doing well last season under Gordon Strachan.

"They've struggled since but they are quite capable of winning football matches.

"They have talent and I'm sure Harry will get it right.

"We saw at West Brom and Blackburn when we played there. The first game (for a new manager) is about attitude and the players have nothing to lose. It will be a difficult game for us and one we will have to deal with.

"But we're pleased with the result on Monday, which put us in a great position in the league, and today's game provides us with another opportunity."

Monday's 3-2 victory over Manchester City at the Riverside means Boro have now lost only one game in nine Premiership fixtures.

More importantly, the game brought an end to a barren run without a goal which stretched to 12 games for Mark Viduka and nine for Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink.

The Boro boss admitted his two sharp-shooters were in fine fettle last week after the cloud was lifted on their goal drought and says he expects his strikers to score a glut in the second half of the season - starting today on the south coast.

"They've been a lot happier this week in training, they have been grumpy but they're never satisfied, goalscorers," smiled McClaren. "Hopefully they'll now go on a good run of goals.

"Goalscorers are a nightmare, they just want to score goals and they got back on track on Monday.

"They know that every time they step on the pitch their reputation is at stake. But they have to do it again against Southampton - and they will do it again.

"People were mentioning how many games they had gone without scoring and I didn't realise how many games they had gone because the games were coming that regular.

"But it was never an issue with us and we were never overly concerned about it because other players were scoring, and we're still the third highest scorers in the league."

McClaren admitted the club's hectic schedule of two and sometimes three games a week could have contributed to his strikers not finding the target as it has not allowed the coaching staff to spend any time working on moves on the training pitch.

The Boro boss says they have managed to address that problem this week, however, and is looking for the extra work to start paying a dividend.

He said: "I think it helped last week that we had about eight days in between games to work on things; where in the past we haven't because of midweek games. We hope that this will bear fruit in the games coming up."

With the January transfer window looming, Boro fans are hoping one or two new faces will be arriving on Teesside.

McClaren admitted he would love to add to the squad - but hinted the right player might not be available until the summer.

"Maybe in one or two areas we can improve but it's very difficult to get the right players in January," he commented. "We tried that last season and failed.

"If there is a player out there at the right price that is available that will improve your team, then yes, but they rarely come up. Managers usually build their squads in the summer to last a season.

"They do not build it to last until January and start again.

"The only time you change it in January is if you get major injuries, or you're struggling, or need that extra player to take you forward; which will be the instance with us.

"We've done very well with the players we've got, when you consider the injuries we've had, and we've improved every year when you look at the stats: if you look at where we were this time last year in terms of how many goals we've scored; winning the Carling Cup; we're in the last 32 of the UEFA Cup and fifth in the Premier League - but we've done nothing.

"We have to maintain it and I'll only be satisfied if we're in this position with five game to go, and it's all in our hands.