STAND-IN skipper Gareth Southgate believes Middlesbrough should not be too critical of their forwards. Boro's goalless draw at home to Ipswich on Sunday was the club's second consecutive game without finding the net.

But Southgate insists that they have an array of attacking talent at the Riverside and it will not be too long before they score again.

"We were talking after the Derby game and we had just hit five past them," said Southgate on the 5-1 success over the Rams on November 3.

"I don't think we need to be critical and examine ourselves too much. We can go back to the training ground and then go for it at Blackburn on Saturday."

Front-men Szilard Nemeth and Alen Boksic's partnership has been improving with every game, since first starting alongside one another at Blackburn on October 10 in the Worthington Cup.

However, Nemeth has only scored one Premiership goal since his arrival in contrast to Boksic's five goal haul.

Southgate is confident though that the pair's link-up will continue to progress, especially with the creative talents of Carlos Marinelli on the same pitch. "We have three very exciting strikers and they are people that get the crowd going when they are playing well," said Southgate.

"Each of them can create a goal out of nothing. And we know more often than not they can create a goal out of nothing.

"It did not happen against Ipswich on Sunday but usually, if we keep a clean sheet, we can bank on them getting something at the other end."

The England international has been impressed with Boksic and Marinelli since arriving in the summer from Aston Villa in a £6.5m deal. And he thinks that the skilful Argentinean can follow in the Croatian superstar's footsteps to stardom.

"They are both unpredicatable talents and offer different things which are hard to play against," said the 31-year-old.

"There's one of them (Boksic) on the pitch that has won everything in the game, while the other (Marinelli) is just starting out and has a good future. "And I'm sure Marinelli has got a great future. But both are interesting to play with."

The point earned by Boro against the Tractor Boys at the weekend was not what the season-high 32,586 fans at the Riverside wanted to see.

And despite admitting that Steve McClaren's men wanted to put on a good showing, Southgate revealed they are happy to be adding to their points tally. "In the end with the chances Ipswich had we have got to say we're happy with the point," said Southgate. "And also happy that we kept a clean sheet. "The draw keeps the unbeaten run going and it also keeps us going in the right direction.

"It's just a bit disappointing we got another big crowd and we didn't send them home after watching another game like Derby."

Meanwhile, Boro striker Brian Deane, 33, is expected to complete his long-awaited move to Leicester later this week.

Foxes boss Dave Bassett said: "We have agreed a fee with Middlesbrough and Brian has now reached an agreement with the club for his release."

Boro stars Paul Okon and Mark Schwarzer returned to Australia yesterday disappointed after failing to qualify for next summer's World Cup. The Socceroos, who took a 1-0 lead to Uruguay in the qualifying play-off, were beaten 3-0 by the South Americans.

Both Okon and Schwarzer will not be available to play for Boro until the trip to Anfield a week on Saturday.

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