Football FanCast columnist Luke Raine reflects on Boro's good start to the season and wonders where they will go from here.

If you asked Boro fans three weeks ago if they would have taken six points from their first three Premier League encounters, you would probably have been left with one hand. The team performed tremendously well in their opening two fixtures and ground out a victory at the weekend with a perseverance that has been lacking in recent years.

Gareth Southgate is slowly gaining a reputation as one of the brightest young bosses in the English game, with even the Match of The Day Studio handing out praise. Boro fans don't have to wait until ten to midnight to see their team's highlights too!

Boro fans have been known to be sceptical in the past, and it is true that we faced both Spurs and Liverpool on good days, with neither of the aforementioned sides performing anywhere near their best. The Stoke result will be the one that arguably pleased Boro fans the most.

Over the years our side hasn't responded well to the tag "favourites" (see Cardiff City 2-0 Middlesbrough last season), and it wasn't a surprise to many when Justin Hoyte bundled the ball into his own goal on his home debut. What will have surprised many Boro fans is the way the side came roaring back, which culminated in a late winner from Tuncay Sanli (although Boro fans would have been forgiven for closing their eyes when he shaped to shoot six yards from goal).

With promising youngsters Didier Digard and Marvin Emnes being slowly blooded into the first team, the substitute's bench is also looking stronger than ever before. One gripe some fans have with Southgate is that Mido is not being granted a place in the starting eleven. I am fully behind our manager on this one - keep Mido hungry (not literally) and you will continue to get the best out of the Egyptian.

For me, our good start has been tainted by events at Eastlands this week. I admit that if I was in a City fan's shoes at this moment I would be on cloud nine - and rightly so, but the message it sends out to clubs like ours isn't great.

Middlesbrough have spent about £500k (net) this summer, and look to have a competitive side. With City about to make the "Big4" into "5", teams like ours have to remodel their targets. Boro fans would love to be competing in Europe again, but this is now virtually impossible via the league. There will probably be one place via league standings, and when teams like Aston Villa are signing your best players it is hard to see us finishing above them.

Let's not get too downbeat though; with a decent run of fixtures around the corner (we don't play another team from the big 4 until October 18^th) there is no reason why we can't extend out good start into the autumn.