Leeds United still targeting play-offs insists Neil Warnock

The Whites travel to Middlesbrough tomorrow night

Leeds manager Neil Warnock has admitted his time is running out at the club but reaching the npower Championship play-offs is all he is focusing on.

The Whites travel to Middlesbrough tomorrow night five points adrift of the top six having dropped two valuable points at Wolves on Saturday.

Danny Batth's first league goal in stoppage time saw Wolves clinch a late point at Molineux, leaving Leeds to rue a missed opportunity to close the gap on the play-off places.

Warnock, whose contract runs out in May, confirmed earlier this week no talks about his future at the Elland Road side had yet taken place.

But the 64-year-old former QPR and Sheffield United manager, still thinks promotion is achievable for Leeds.

"We've 16 games left and we'll be giving it a bloody good go," Warnock told the club's official website.

"We were disappointed not to take all three points on Saturday, but you move on and we'll look to the Middlesbrough game.

"I've said before that time is running out for me as a manager and I want to go up. I want to get in the play-offs. That's why I'm here, that's what I want to achieve.

"That's why I'm more disappointed and frustrated than anyone when we come away with a point from a game we should have won."

Boro manager Tony Mowbray has backed his players to end a minor crisis in their promotion push after Saturday's 3-2 home defeat by Barnsley marked their fifth league defeat in a row.

Middlesbrough, who had spent several weeks in second place behind leaders Cardiff, have slumped to sixth and were booed off at both half and full-time at the Riverside this weekend.

"There was an anxiety there that was compounded by the concession of an early goal," Mowbray told the Northern Echo.

"The place took off when we got 2-1 in front and everybody was bouncing, but the pin was put in the inflated balloon again by the goal we conceded. Then the anxiety returned.

"That's football and you have to deal with that, there's no magic way out of it. There's no magic formula, you just have to work hard."

Elsewhere, Hull will be looking to regain second place with a win at home to Derby.

The Tigers dropped points away to Brighton at the weekend to slip into fourth, behind Leicester and Watford on goal difference.

It was their first away defeat since November, and manager Steve Bruce thinks the problems lie in a lack of cutting edge up front since Matty Fryatt and top goalscorer Sone Aluko have been ruled out with Achilles injuries.

"We have to remember we have been without Aluko for two months and he has been our best player," Bruce told the Hull Daily Mail

"We have also been without Matty Fryatt. He consistently gets 15-20 goals every season so those are two big players missing.

"But we dust ourselves down and get ready to go again."

In the other game, Brighton will be hoping to record their second successive win and keep up the pressure on the top six when they take on Blackburn at The Amex.

The Seagulls are one place and two points behind sixth-placed Middlesbrough and assistant coach Mauricio Taricco wants to back up Saturday's victory with another three points.

He told seagulls.co.uk: "There is no question that if we want to nick a place in the play-offs it's all about winning until the end of the season.

"We are close but teams in the play-offs are having a bad run so we have got to expect them to go on a good run at some point.

"It's up to us and there are still a lot of games to go. We still need to become more consistent in terms of results, not so much performances."

PA