Saturday 16 April 2016 23:08, UK
Aitor Karanka claimed he was always confident Middlesbrough's season would get back on track after the Sky Bet Championship leaders recorded a sixth successive win over Bolton following his mini exile.
One month ago - the day before a third loss in four against Charlton - Karanka failed to take training with the north-east club following a stormy meeting with his players that had threatened to derail their promotion campaign.
The Spaniard was not in the dugout for that loss against the Addicks but, in the half-a-dozen fixtures since he returned, Boro have not dropped a point and two Jordan Rhodes goals, the second in stoppage time, earned them a 2-1 win over already-relegated Bolton on Saturday.
Rather than unsettling Karanka's squad, it appears to have had a galvanising effect and Middlesbrough will be within touching distance of the top flight should they defeat fellow high-fliers Burnley on Tuesday.
"We had lost games in January, February and March because we had players leaving and important players injured in difficult moments," Karanka explained.
"It was difficult to manage that situation and we lost games. Those games were games when we thought we were going to win easy. We lost those games, we made mistakes and we knew that after Hull - the most important part of the season - we had to be ready.
"One month ago I said I was much, much calmer than I was last season because I had a much better squad than I had last season; we are more mature, they are stronger and the fixtures are better than we had last season."
It was the £9million signing of Rhodes, and his subsequent role in Karanka's system, that had caused some of the tension but he gave a timely reminder of his quality with a second-half brace after Josh Vela gave the hosts the lead.
Rhodes had only scored twice in his previous 13 games at his new club, yet Karanka has kept an arm around his shoulder and never doubted his touch in front of goal would return.
"I told him after the game that a goalscorer can't forget to score goals in two months," the Boro boss added. "Always one day it would arrive that he would score goals and it was today - two important goals.
"I don't think it's been easy for him. He's not a strong character, you can see it in his face. The reason I am pleased for him is because sometimes when you do your best and you're unlucky you are going down. He was always trusting himself.
"Today, the most important day, he arrived and he was there to help the team."
Bolton's relegation fate had already been sealed with a 4-1 loss at Derby last weekend, but they showed more spirit against a club now 59 points above them in the table.
Interim manager Jimmy Phillips, who could hand the reins over soon, wants that performance to be the benchmark in their final four encounters.
"That's got to be the case from now until the end of the season," he said.
"We encourage players to get on the ball, show as much in possession as they could, to be confident with it, because our league fate has been decided but also retaining a real competitive edge and defensive shape.
"There's still areas to work on, definitely, hopefully if we can achieve better ball retention, become harder to beat and still work hard that will set the players up for next season for those that are going to be here."
