AITOR KARANKA does not believe individual mistakes that have cost Middlesbrough five points in the last week will derail their plans for promotion.

Ben Gibson’s error against Birmingham and Tomas Mejias’ poor throw out on Saturday against Leeds saw Boro pick up a solitary point from their last two fixtures, but Karanka is confident that the errors are not indicative of a systemic problem and that they can be ironed out.

Middlesbrough host Bolton Wanderers tonight, and Karanka is looking forward to his side’s opportunity to write the wrongs from Saturday’s 1-0 home reverse to Leeds United.

“It could be lack of concentration, it could be the pressure, because we are playing to stay at the top of the table, the pressure is not the same as it was,” said Karanka. “I prefer that everything is down to individual mistakes, as the team is playing well. We have fixed those in the past and we can fix it in the future.

“We have lost five points in two games and conceded four or five goals to individual mistakes in recent games, so this is my concern now.

“They know that when we make those mistakes it’s more difficult to win games and we need to fix it.

“We have had a lot of games, there’s going to be seven games in 21 days but the fixtures are the fixtures. We knew that at the beginning. The games demand physical and mental conditioning and now we have to play against Bolton and forget what has gone before.”

Despite defeat, Middlesbrough are still in second in the Championship, but Karanka is aware that every point matters from now until the end of the season and he is determined to get back to winning ways, starting this evening.

He said: “When you have lost the previous game you want to play the next one as soon as possible. Our performance again was very good, especially the first half, and I’d like to start again against Bolton in the same way.

“I don’t want to put pressure on the players because they know how important every point is.

“We have six or seven teams in the mix, someone can win, someone can lose, we have lost five points, it all changes. We have to think about ourselves and know how well we have done up to now.

“It’s going to be tough against Bolton. They lost 4-1 on Saturday, it’s a bad defeat for them and they are coming here to try to forget that. It’s going to be a tough game but we need to play with our intensity, with our consistency and our style.”

Boro will be without Jelle Vossen who was taken to James Cook University Hospital after the Leeds game with concussion, but although the Belgian suffered no lasting damage, regulations stipulate he must take a mandatory rest period until he is passed fit to play.

Karanka said: “It’s nothing serious but he has to be out for the next few days because it’s concussion. But fortunately it’s nothing serious. We have to be careful with him.”

But Boro have been boosted by the return of Mustapha Carayol, who will be on the bench tonight after making a recovery from a cruciate ligament injury suffered last March.

Karanka is an advocate of maintaining a strong squad of 22 players, and while Carayol is a boost, he still has Dani Ayala out of action and hopes that his squad can stay in decent shape until the end of the campaign.

“We have to keep going and working to recover the players because we have four games in two weeks and we need to get as many points as possible,” he said.

Defending his policy to tinker with the starting XI, Karanka added: “I can understand criticisms when I make changes after we lose a game, but I’ve changed a team after we have won as well.

“Middlesbrough Football Club are paying me to make decisions and I have to take my decisions based on the team and the club. Sometimes I’m right, sometimes I’m wrong but I’m always thinking about the best for Middlesbrough.”

MIDDLESBROUGH: Konstantopoulos; Fredericks, Woodgate, Gibson, Friend; Clayton, Leadbitter; Bamford, Tomlin, Reach; Kike.