Middlesbrough has kept their automatic promotion dreams alive with a resounding 5-1 victory over Watford at the Riverside, moving within a point of the top-two positions in the Sky Bet Championship. Despite Ipswich still having a game in hand, Kim Hellberg's side remains in contention with one match to play. The win, courtesy of doubles from Morgan Whittaker and Tommy Conway, along with a goal from David Strelec, marked Boro's joint-biggest victory of the season. Watford's lone goal came from James Abankwah early in the second half but was insufficient to counter Boro's dominant performance after the break.
Whittaker's spectacular 30-yard free-kick opened the scoring, and despite Watford's efforts to equalize, Boro doubled their lead just before halftime through Strelec. The second half saw Boro assert their dominance, with Whittaker scoring his second, followed by Conway converting a penalty and later adding a fifth in stoppage time.
The outcome leaves the promotion battle poised for a thrilling conclusion, with Middlesbrough's manager hopeful that Southampton can take points off Ipswich to set up an exciting final day of the season.