MIDDLESBROUGH boss Tony Mowbray wants to see the Riverside Stadium rocking and says the only way for that to happen is for his team to keep winning.

Mowbray’s former club Ipswich are the visitors to Teesside today with the Boro boss eager to keep their marvellous start to the season going.

Written off by ‘the experts’ before August, Mowbray and Co have defied the pundits to march to second spot in the Championship.

If they manage to stay there until the end of the season, the Premier League would beckon and the Riverside would be packed to the rafters to hail a promotion-winning side.

However, that scenario is months away and Mowbray – who knows how loud a full Riverside can be – appreciates the continuation of their fine league form is the only recipe that can tempt the Boro faithful back in their droves.

He said: “I’ve been here as a player and coach and seen it bouncing with 34,000 fans in it and it’s a great place to play football.

“At the moment we have a half-empty stadium and while the fans inside create a great atmosphere, it’s not quite a full house.

“How do you get there? You produce a team that wins week in, week out. We want the fans who go to the game to go away and tell their mates in the pub to come along next week.

“The North East is a hotbed as good as anywhere in the country and supporters can drive the team to victory and can feel like an extra man on the pitch. It’s important we tap into that and get the stadium bouncing again.”

While Mowbray s realistic enough to appreciate that many on Teesside have felt the economic squeeze, he hopes that once punters regain the means to come along to the Riverside, there will be a Boro team good enough to make them want to do just that.

He added: “We have to try to build a feel-good factor at home and hope the supporters look forward to games and come to the Riverside, see their team get a victory and want to come back for the next game.

“But I would never tell our supporters they have to put their hands in their pockets and come and watch the team. The idea is to get a team on the pitch that makes them get excited and wanting to come back to the Riverside.

“The area’s gone through a tough spell but hopefully there’s light at the end of the tunnel, with jobs being created at the steelworks again.

“The football club and the town go hand in hand and when we’re winning games, people will come and that will create an atmosphere that will hopefully push us back into the Premier League.” Meanwhile, Mowbray’s opposite number today, Paul Jewell, admits his Ipswich side are braced for a tough encounter.

Jewell said: “I was talking to (Peterborough boss) Darren Ferguson recently and he was saying that Middlesbrough are the best team that they’ve played. (Coventry manager) Andy Thorn told me the same thing.

“Middlesbrough have started the season well. They’ve got a blend of experience and youth. I think Tony’s done very well there. I guess it will be a decent football match.

“I think last year they spent quite a lot of money and brought a lot of players in and everyone tipped them for promotion.

“That didn’t happen for one reason or another. They’ve started this season very well.”