WITH his future almost certain to lie away from the Riverside Stadium, Saturday, May 16 was always going to be an emotional day in the life of Stewart Downing.

Not even in his worst nightmares, however, could he have imagined that things might end like this.

After 233 senior appearances for his hometown team, Downing’s final Riverside Stadium outing in a Boro shirt could coincide with the club’s relegation from the Premier League for the first time in 12 years.

If the Teessiders lose to Aston Villa in four days time, and Newcastle and Hull claim at least a point against Fulham and Bolton respectively, Boro will be relegated regardless of what happens in their final fixture at West Ham.

As a born-and-bred Teessider, the prospect of leaving on such a low note is too awful for Downing, club captain in the absence of the injured Emanuel Pogatetz, to contemplate.

So while others are viewing Monday night’s 3-1 defeat to Newcastle as the final nail in Middlesbrough’s coffin, the 24-year-old is refusing to throw in the towel.

While his own exit appears almost inevitable, Downing insists that his current club’s departure from the top-flight is not.

“It’s a slim chance, but a slim chance is better than no chance at all,” said the winger, who has started all 36 of Boro’s league games this season.

“If we beat Aston Villa and other results go for us, things could still look very different on Saturday night.

“We have to cling to that hope. It’s out of our hands now and that’s a horrible position to be in, but it’s not over till it’s over and we have to keep believing that.

“It has to be two wins now though. There might be other ways to get out of it, but from where we’re looking now, it has to be two wins.

“If we play like we did in the first half against Newcastle, and cut out the sloppy mistakes that have been costing us all season, we’re capable of winning our last two matches.

That would give us a chance, even though we’ll be relying on others.”

Yet while words might say one thing, actions and emotions can portray something quite different.

Watching Middlesbrough troop dejectedly out of St James’ Park on Monday evening, it was hard not to regard the club’s latest defeat as the straw that finally broke the camel’s back.

After weeks of failing to win ‘must-win matches’, Boro’s failure to see off their Tyne-Tees rivals appears to have taken a significant toll.

Gareth Southgate’s challenge now is to instil a belief that the seemingly impossible is possible. It will not be an easy task.

Monday felt like the be-alland- end-all, even if, statistically, Boro are still very much in the hunt.

Given that the Teessiders have not won back-to-back league matches since the final two games of last season, how on earth is Southgate going to convince his players that they are capable of doing exactly that when the stakes are at their highest?