Gareth Southgate believes Middlesbrough have been rewarded for becoming 'difficult to play against' after Saturday's victory over Liverpool lifted the club out of the relegation zone.
The Boro boss saw his players stun Premier League title-chasing Liverpool 2-0 at The Riverside courtesy of a first-half Xabi Alonso own goal and a strike from Tuncay Sanli after the interval.
Middlesbrough, therefore, recorded a league victory for the first time since 9th November, scoring after an almost eight-and-a-quarter hour drought in the process.
And, on the back of Wednesday's FA Cup fifth-round replay win over West Ham, Southgate feels his side are now reaping the rewards of determined efforts to become more resilient following the 0-0 home draw with relegation rivals Blackburn on 31st January.
"To put in a performance like we did in midweek and then put another performance of similar quality today (was pleasing)," Southgate told Sky Sports.
"We knew we would have to be at our best. We were a threat going forward. We were strong defensively.
"It was an important win for us. We said a few weeks ago that when we drew 0-0 with Blackburn that we had to be difficult to play against.
"We have built on that. We have had four clean sheets in our last six and that is the basis for giving us results.
"Now we are starting to score again and you can see the confidence coming back through the side."
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