GEORGE FRIEND has laughed off suggestions that Middlesbrough are suffering a “wobble”, and paid tribute to the club’s defensive young guns for keeping the ongoing promotion push on track.

Having picked up one point from matches against Birmingham City and Leeds United, Boro’s stuttering performance in Tuesday’s 1-0 win over Bolton Wanderers has led some to suggest that the club’s players are beginning to feel the pressure as the season reaches its most critical phase.

Friend accepts that Boro’s performance on Tuesday did not scale the heights of some of their previous displays, but with the majority of their promotion rivals also winning, the full-back insists a positive result was always going to be the most important thing to come out of the game.

Boro’s 18th league win of the season owed much to the defensive solidity that resulted in a 15th clean sheet, with Tomas Kalas linking up with fellow centre-half Ben Gibson to ensure the injured Daniel Ayala was not too badly missed despite having been an extremely influential figure for the majority of the campaign.

Kalas and Gibson are 21 and 22 respectively, and with right-back Ryan Fredericks only having turned 22 himself in October, Boro boast one of the youngest back fours in the Championship. Not, however, that you would know it from the maturity of their recent displays.

“We’ve got a very young defence, but I don’t think you’d know it from the way they play,” said Friend. “Dani (Ayala) is hardly a veteran himself, but since he’s been out of the side, the average age has got even younger.

“I feel pretty old in the back four, and I’m only 27. Sometimes, I think I have to remind people of that. Ryan, Ben and Tomas are all very young, and Kenneth (Omeruo) as well when he comes in, but I don’t think that’s ever presented a problem.

“We’ve got a lot of different defenders who can come in to do specific jobs. They’re all pretty young, but they all seem to do very well. The stats show that because we’ve got the best defence in the league.

“People might say we’ve had a bit of a wobble, but if that’s a wobble, what we’ve just had, what must other teams be thinking when they have a real wobble?

“I’m really proud of all the lads, but especially the younger ones because they’re playing like seasoned pros.”

Gibson’s last two displays have been especially commendable given that the England Under-21 international went into the Leeds game off the back of an uncharacteristic error in the previous match against Birmingham.

The youngster’s back-pass failed to reach Dimi Konstantopoulos, resulting in both the goalkeeper’s dismissal and the concession of the opening goal in what turned out to be a 1-1 draw.

Gibson insisted the error would not affect his confidence, and his last two displays have highlighted a mental strength to accompany the physical attributes that have been apparent all season.

“I never really worry too much about Ben to be honest,” said Friend. “Even after what happened last week, I was never remotely worried about him.

“He’s a very confident guy, and is naturally a brilliant footballer. He’s a very good defender, although I think sometimes people forget about how young he is. He is old before his time, and he’s been fantastic for us all season.

“Unfortunately, as a defender, if you make one mistake, it tends to get highlighted. But he’s fine and he’s put in a couple of really good performances since then. I’ve got quite a good relationship with him on that left side of the defence and we’re enjoying playing together.”

The pair’s next test will come at Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday, and with the gap to sixth position currently standing at just four points, there is precious little room for error as the matches continue to come thick and fast.

Friend admits to keeping half an eye on the Championship table – “I think most people are lying if they say they don’t” – but with head coach Aitor Karanka consistently stressing the need to avoid looking too far into the future, the full-back admits it is pointless trying to make predictions about what will happen in the final 13 games.

“It’s probably going to be one of the tightest finishes to a Championship season ever,” he said. “Whenever we lose, everyone around us seems to lose, and whenever we win, like Tuesday, we come in to find that everyone else has won too.

“As long as we just concentrate on ourselves, we know we’re in a good position and hopefully we’ll stay in and around it so that, come May, we’re in the right place.”