GARETH SOUTHGATE believes goal difference could be a crucial factor in deciding which of the North-East’s Premier League sides avoid the drop this season.

But confirmation that Gary O’Neil – Boro’s star performer last Saturday – will serve a two-match ban following his yellow card at Bolton is a massive blow to the Boro manager.

The 83rd-minute booking was the 25-year-old’s tenth yellow card of the season and he will miss the games at the Riverside against Hull City and Fulham a week later.

Saturday’s 4-1 drubbing at the Reebok left only basement club West Brom with a worse Premier League goal deficit than Middlesbrough with the next worst, Hull City, the visitors to the Riverside this weekend.

And Southgate has identified the game with Phil Brown’s side as providing an ideal opportunity to redress his side’s goal difference that currently sees them seven goals worse off than Hull.

The Boro manager was furious with the defensive blunders that plunged his side into deeper trouble and acknowledged his players must improve both goals for and against columns if they have any chance edging to safety.

“It’s impossible to predict how many points teams are going to need but it looks like goal difference could well be a factor,” he noted. “That’s what annoys you when you concede goals when we had a couple of heavy away defeats because that could have a bearing, the league is that tight.

“Yes, we set the team up to increase our chances of scoring against Bolton and to be fair, we created some great chances and I fancied us to get another after Gary put us level. But we also talked about the threat that Bolton pose, especially from set-pieces and balls into the box, so we had to be aware of the defensive side of things too. When you look at three of their goals, they come from set-pieces which makes this result particularly hard to take.

“Goal difference could come into it because it’s looking so tight at the moment.

But there is still time for us to affect that in a positive way.

We have games with teams who are down there with us and that could have a huge bearing on what happens.”

Boro skipper, Emanuel Pogatetz is also expected to miss this weekend’s game after sustaining a knee injury during the first half on Saturday, robbing Southgate of one of his most reliable defensive stalwarts.

With Boro expected to revert to an orthodox 4-4-2 formation against Hull, the likes of Andrew Taylor and Tony McMahon come into the reckoning as Southgate plots his side’s great escape.

■More than 50 serving British soldiers will parade around the Riverside pitch before Boro’s game with Hull City on Saturday.

It will be a chance for the Teesside public to give a public show of support to the Catterick-based soldiers, all of whom have served in either Iraq or Afghanistan during the recent conflicts.

And, in a Riverside first, there’ll be a special 10-minute music mix put together by Boro’s England winger-turned-dj Stewart Downing. Boro’s new supporter services team are also putting on live pre-match music, giving out Easter eggs to young fans and introducing new half-time entertainment.

Local band The Graft will be performing alongside the Ayresome Park gates from 2pm.