WITH the potential to go top of the Championship tomorrow night, Middlesbrough’s squad has been described as having the leaders required to maintain the push for promotion by stand-in skipper Grant Leadbitter.

Leadbitter was at the hub of the Boro midfield again on Tuesday when a goalless draw at Nottingham Forest extended the unbeaten run to eight matches ahead of the visit of Sheffield Wednesday to the Riverside Stadium.

Experienced defender Jonathan Woodgate is expected to return to the starting line-up against the Owls on a night when Middlesbrough’s biggest crowd of the season could witness them leapfrog Crystal Palace at the top of the table.

Despite missing the game at Forest through his ongoing hamstring trouble Woodgate was still at the City Ground to lend his support to a group of players hungry to take the club back to the Premier League.

And Leadbitter, more than happy to hand the captain’s armband back to the former Real Madrid man, thinks Woodgate’s attitude is rubbing off on those around him.

“Jonathan Woodgate was not involved at Forest yet he travelled down with the squad, he wanted to be involved on a cold Tuesday night,” said Leadbitter. “He was in the dressing room saying his bit, he’s a top professional and wants the lads to win. He wants Boro to go up. We need players like that.

“Woody has impressed me since he came here. He loves football, he knows every single player, knows the game inside and out and there are a fair few lads in this squad like him. We are a good group of lads and the spirit is strong and that’s shown with things like that.”

While Woodgate has travelled the world with the clubs he has played for over the last 14 years he is still hungry to achieve with his hometown club this season.

And Leadbitter feels others mirror such an approach in the dressing room, suggesting the drive to learn more and become better players comes from the backroom team.

“It’s brilliant to be up there near the top of the table, but one of the things I have noticed in the last few weeks is that the coaching staff are top drawer and are not satisfied with what they have got,” said Leadbitter.

“They want to improve you every day. I am 26 and there’s a lot of managers, coaches, who think you are the finished product. The coaching staff here want you to keep improving and so do I.

“The gaffer (Tony Mowbray), Mark Venus, Mark Proctor … they all want to keep improving you. They pick up on things that they feel you can improve on. They do that for everyone and that will help the team improve.”

Despite missing out on recording a seventh successive away win for the first time in the club’s history, or making it six league wins in a row, there remains strong confidence ahead of tomorrow’s home game in front of the Sky Sports cameras.

A return to winning ways with a third consecutive home victory would maintain hopes of going up and strengthen the belief there is within the squad that this could be the year to deliver.

Leadbitter said: “I’m not sure if we are gelling at the right time because it is early in the season. But we need to keep going and make sure the players keep playing well, if that’s the case the team plays well and that’s what we need to win games.

“Sheff Wed have a couple of good talents like Ross Barkley, Jay Bothroyd and they will want to come and beat us. We have to perform and try to keep the fans at the Riverside.

“It’s been brilliant to go six in a row, when you win six in a row (in all competitions) everyone wants to beat you. I’m in a winning team and we have raised our game, we just have to make sure it continues. It’s great to be part of it.

“We have had so many injuries but we feel we have 18-22 good players. Other teams only have five or six good players. That’s not the case here, so when we do pick up injuries I feel we can put players in. It’s all good.”

Middlesbrough have already sold in excess of 17,500 tickets for tomorrow’s game with supporters taking advantage of a cut-price ticket offer.

Tickets are £12 and £7 and it is hoped more than 21,000 will be inside the stadium for only the second time this year. Fans are urged to get tickets in advance rather than queue on the night.