Lee Clark orders Birmingham City to build on victory

Blues twice came from behind to level through Marlon King and Wade Elliott before King grabbed a well-taken winner in the 81st minute to clinch three much-needed points.

It was only a second home win in seven attempts for Blues as they ended a four-match winless run.

And Clark, whose team's points tally is closer to the top six than the bottom three despite sitting 18th, is adamant Blues still have all to play for in a Championship famous for its congested promotion scrambles.

Clark said: "Now we have to kick on. We cannot have any of the nonsense we've had all season where we get a couple of positive results like Blackpool (a 1-1 draw at Bloomfield Road in midweek) and last night, and then come unstuck next weekend at Wolves.

"Talk is cheap. Too many people talk the talk – you've got to walk the walk.

"Any team who wants to be successful has to go on a run of games where there's more wins, although you can sprinkle in a couple of draws.

"But you've certainly got to have an unbeaten run with a lot of wins in there to kick you up the table."

Blues were out-played by Middlesbrough for a significant portion of the match and boss Tony Mowbray complained about goals "gifted" to the home side. But with the pressure mounting on his team, Clark was full of praise for their character and resolve.

"Hopefully it'll give the lads belief," he added. "We've just beaten an excellent team who are going to be right in the mix and we can go on from there.

"I think the whole team deserves credit because of the character and desire we've shown to bounce back and to get the result against a good side.

"But when you take into consideration the quality of the opposition and how they played, the resilience and character of my team, you've got to be delighted with the result."

Mowbray said:?"We gifted the goals. It's not something I'd say we've done too often this year but I don't think they (Birmingham) have had to work too hard for the goals."