Jonny Howson earned special praise from his manager for his contribution to the move which enabled Britt Assombalonga to seal Middlesbrough's badly-needed win at Reading.

The midfielder produced an inch-perfect cross which Assombalonga headed in for Boro's crucial second goal in their 2-0 success at Reading.

But Howson said the win which moved Boro back into the top half of the Championship owed more to hard work than flashes of brilliance.

Victory was “fully justified” according to the former Norwich City man, who urged his team-mates to produce more of the same against Hull City tomorrow night.

“When you’re going through a bad run it’s about grinding results out and I think everyone of the lads has given their all - they’ve gone out there and we got what we wanted,” said Howson.

“We were very solid and worked really hard, you need to do that it our situation. They had a lot of the ball but didn’t hurt us too much. The boys gave everything they have got and we got what we wanted.

“I was pleased to get the assist for the second goal. I had a quick look up and saw Britt so it was a case of just getting it into the box. Coming away from home when you have got that quality up top, you know you are going to create chances so it’s just about staying solid at the back.

“The second goal is always important in any game. It eased the pressure and knocked the stuffing out of them really.”

Howson added: “It was just what we’ve needed for however many games. We were very solid and I thought we got our just rewards.

“It was a really important three points and we need to carry that forward onto Hull City in what will be a really difficult game.

“The games are coming thick and fast, but this is what we really needed. Tuesday will be difficult but we’ve got to go there and produce more of the same.”

Manager Garry Monk saluted Howson’s "perfect" cross 16 minutes from time which allowed Assombalonga’s header to end the game as a contest.

The display impressed fans who haven’t seen their team win in the Championship since September 16.

“It’s the same for all the players, individually they haven’t played as well as they should have done in this period but they stepped up to the plate,” Monk said.

“Jonny’s put in a fantastic cross and we’ve been able to pretty much put the game to bed. There were a number of really good performances in the team today - they worked extremely hard for each other and got their rewards for that.

“We’ve attacked and defended well and they stood up to give us a perfect away performance.”

Monk said he knew the character of the squad would shine through - and thinks a good run may not be far away.

“What I have noticed is that they’re a really determined group,” he added. “Their performance and attitude was exactly what we wanted.”