BEN GIBSON is urging his Middlesbrough team-mates not to pass up a golden opportunity to create some daylight at the top of the Championship table when they travel to Birmingham City tonight.

Bournemouth’s failure to take all three points against Huddersfield at the weekend, coupled with Derby's dramatic 3-3 draw at Rotherham last night, means Boro head to St Andrew’s knowing a draw will take them back into top spot, while a win will leave them three points clear of the play-off places.

That would represent the biggest buffer they have enjoyed all season, and set things up perfectly for back-to-back home matches against Leeds United and Bolton Wanderers.

Birmingham were plunged into further chaos yesterday when the club’s parent company, Birmingham International Holdings Limited, went into receivership, and having kept a close eye on developments at the top of the league over the weekend, Gibson is determined to take full advantage of an inviting opportunity.

“We were keeping an eye on the Bournemouth game when we were on the train (to London) on Saturday,” said the centre-half, who is expected to partner Kenneth Omeruo tonight in the continued absence of the injured Daniel Ayala. “Huddersfield took a couple of points off them and we know we can take the league away from them if we focus on ourselves.

“Bournemouth slipped up on Saturday, so we have to make sure we don’t slip up at Birmingham. We have to keep winning.

“It will not be an easy place to go, we know that. Under the new manager (Gary Rowett), they are a hard-working side who have had a lot of success. We need to play the way we know we can and we want to, and if we do that then we’ll have a good chance.”

Gibson was part of a strong Middlesbrough side that lost at Arsenal in the FA Cup on Sunday, and having made a raft of changes for last week’s midweek fixture at Blackpool, it will be interesting to see what Aitor Karanka does with his starting selection tonight.

Jelle Vossen could well start ahead of Kike in attack, while Adam Forshaw could come into the midfield for either Grant Leadbitter or Adam Clayton if Karanka feels he could do with some fresh legs.

There are unlikely to be wholesale changes though, with tonight’s game long having been flagged up as a potentially pivotal encounter given that it is effectively Boro’s ‘game in hand’ following their league hiatus at the weekend.

“We went to the Emirates and lost 2-0 to Arsenal, but we always knew the Birmingham game was a much more important game in the grand scheme of things this season,” said Gibson. “Nobody took the game at Arsenal lightly, but we have had to move on.

“Wednesday is the most important game. We can’t dwell on what happened (at Arsenal), or we will throw away all of the good work we have done this season. We can still have our heads held high for the way we dealt with the FA Cup this season, now we have to move on.”

Gibson’s rise to the first-team ranks means he is relegating Jonathan Woodgate to the status of a bit-part player, even though the club captain boasts experience of playing for the likes of Real Madrid and England.

As a born-and-bred Teessider, who was a childhood Boro fan, Gibson admits he still feels star-struck in Woodgate’s company, and while the 35-year-old veteran is not playing as much as he would like, his influence in the dressing room remains considerable.

“It’s amazing to see him and what he’s doing,” said Gibson. “He is a club legend and a town legend. He is from the same area of the town as me in Nunthorpe, so it’s great for me to be on the same field playing alongside someone who has played for one of the greatest clubs in the world in Real Madrid. 

“It’s been a long time, and it’s great to have him involved. He has been a massive figure in the dressing room throughout. He came straight back in and for a man of his experience it shows how good a player he is. When you read the game as well as he does, you are not going to have any trouble slotting back in.”

Birmingham are expected to restore star winger Demarai Gray to their starting line-up, with Rowett admitting his players are struggling to cope with the physical and mental demands of one of the busiest spells of the Championship season.

“We seem to find that Saturday-Tuesday turnaround a little bit more difficult than we did at the start of the season,” said the Blues boss. “It seems to be that sometimes on the Tuesday, or the third game at the end of the week, we just fall a little short.

“It’s a very difficult thing to predict which one it’s going to happen in, but there are going to be times where we might have to change three or four.”

Possible Middlesbrough line-up (4-2-3-1): Konstantopoulos; Fredericks, Gibson, Omeruo, Friend; Leadbitter, Clayton; Adomah, Tomlin, Bamford; Vossen.