Alan Browne scored against the club where he made more than 400 appearances between 2014 and 2024, and Tommy Conway and Morgan Whittaker capitalised on defensive lapses to put Boro three up at half-time.

Preston were down to 10 men just after the break when last man Jordan Storey saw red for hauling down Conway, who completed the scoring as Middlesbrough claimed a fourth successive league win.

They are now breathing down the necks of Frank Lampard’s Coventry, who travel to Norwich on Monday, but Hellberg says he wants to get the best out of his side rather than obsesses over the table.

“Of course I watch the table but we need to keep our performance up,” he said. “It’s not for me to focus too much on the table because I need to prepare my team and develop them.

“We need to get better and that’s the key thing. We’re always trying to get better. We never stop trying to get better the next day than we were the day before.”

Conway now has three goals in his two outings, having scored just three times in his previous 29 appearances of the season, and Hellberg hopes the tide is turning for his frontman.

“His work-rate is unbelievable,” Hellberg said. “He got the red card with his pressing as well. I have always seen him as a top player.

“As a striker you also need to get those goals and that is what he is doing now. He is a top striker, a top person and I’m so happy for him, no one deserves it more.”

Play-off chasing Preston slipped to a fourth successive defeat in all competitions, while they have failed to find the back of the net in their last 380 minutes of competitive football.

Their deficiencies at the back were laid bare, with boss Paul Heckingbottom admitting his side gave Boro a leg up for all four goals.

“The goals are all mistakes,” he said. “You’re never going to win games if you give goals away like that.

“We’ve gifted the game to Boro but they’re a good side. It would have been hard enough not doing that. But I can’t accept we come to a place like this and just because they’re a good side, we roll over.

“We can play to those levels. Our challenge is putting a group together that can do it for 46 games.”