LATICS v MIDDLESBROUGH
Saturday 4th October, kick off 3.00pm
Ticket Hotline 0871 66 33 552

Steve Bruce says six points from six in a week is the incentive - "but it's not going to be easy"

Latics manager Steve Bruce has called upon his players to build on last weekend's fantastic win with a similar performance against Middlesbrough in tomorrow's big match - and has urged the fans to do the same.

"The players were terrific against City", he said, "but I thought our fans were as well, and as the players were digging deep in the second half to maintain their advantage, so the supporters kept up the noise levels and created a terrific atmosphere, probably one of the best I've experienced since coming to the club."


FAN-TASTIC - Bruce applauds fans effort in the stands.

And he added: "that's what I we need every week, on and off the pitch."

Bruce said that Middlesbrough will provide really stiff opposition, however, especially after losing their last three Premier League matches, and in the Carling Cup to Manchester United.

"I have a tremendous amount of respect for Gareth Southgate," he says, "I like the way he carries himself and the way he sticks to his principles and gets on with the job with dignity.

"He and the rest of his team will be really hurting after a string of bad results, especially as I know they have been unlucky in those games not to take something away.

"Like ourselves this season, our results have not always matched up to our performances, so you need to take the positives out of that, keep playing well and hope that results turn for you.

"We have to be on our guard that that does not happen against us. We need to approach this game like every other and take the game to Boro as we did against City, and be 100% from the first to the final whistle.

"They have got some fantastic players, like every team in the Premier League, and it's up to us to come up with a strategy to stop those players from performing at the same time as playing to our maximum, because we know that on our day we can hurt any team at this level.

"Back to back wins would be a fantastic return from these two home games. Our form was absolutely crucial last season and we need to make sure we match that this time around as well."