We took lots of confidence from first leg - Hellberg

Middlesbrough head coach Kim Hellberg is quietly confident that his side can overcome Southampton to reach the Championship play-off final.

It is all to play for in Tuesday's second leg at St Mary's after the first game ended goalless.

But Hellberg has faith in his players to deliver on the south coast and book their place at Wembley.

"We are strong away from home, we have lost one of our 10 games," he told BBC Radio Tees.

"We have scored against every team since then, we know we are a very good football team.

"There was a lot of confidence from the performance [in the first leg] and we'll use that going into this game and we know we can beat every team in this league."

Boro's only league defeat on the road since New Year's Day was at Championship winners Coventry City, although they have drawn the last four of those.

That spell of 10 matches has produced 20 goals.

Hellberg confirmed midfielder Hayden Hackney would be absent for the return leg, but is targeting a possible return for the final if Boro make it on 23 May.

Hackney, 23, has now missed nine games with his calf injury since he went off against Bristol City on 14 March.

The Swede was unwilling to be pushed any further at this stage over the allegations of spying on Boro's training for which Southampton have been charged.

But he hopes that his side's way of playing is picking up plaudits.

"A lot of people like the way we play football," he said. "It's a very brave way of doing it. That first half of the play-off game was unbelievable.

"There are many that like the way we play, like the way we handle ourselves. We are honest in our approach in trying to play offensive football and there are a lot of people that like that."