Gibson hoping to maintain winning mentality with Boro

When your uncle also happens to be chairman of your football club, it’s fair to say shaking off any suggestion of nepotism must be difficult.

But Middlesbrough’s Ben Gibson is looking every inch a Premier League defender in his first season in the top flight, and insists his side will continue to defy the odds this term.

The 23-year-old played alongside first-choice defensive partner Dani Ayala, for the first time this season, in Saturday’s tepid 0-0 draw at West Brom, and also skippered the side with Grant Leadbitter and George Friend both absent.

And after notching up two draws and one win so far this term – including a first clean sheet of the season over the weekend – Gibson is adamant Boro are only looking up the table.

“We would have snapped your hand off at the start of the season to be in this position,” he said. “But it’s important now, we’ve had three games unbeaten, to keep the momentum going.

“There’s an adaptation period that needs to happen, and I think we’ve handled that really well. It’s a big change from the Championship.

“In that league, we were used to winning games. For two years we had a winning mentality and we want to carry that into this season as well.”

The England under-21 international is also nephew of current Boro chairman Steve Gibson, and manager Aitor Karanka admits at times he has had to work harder to prove himself as a result.

“When he was going away with the England Under-21s, I was in touch with Gareth (Southgate) and he told me he was an important player for him.

“Character is something that you have or you don’t have, it’s something you can’t buy.

“Sometimes it’s harder for Ben because everybody links him with his uncle and sometimes he has to show more than the other players.

“So he has a good character; because he is the chairman’s nephew he has to work hard to show everybody that he is a good player.”