Michael Carrick’s speech at halftime as Middlesbrough improves to complete the victory for Cardiff City

Michael Carrick’s verdict as Middlesbrough beat Cardiff City 2-0 at the Riverside

Michael Carrick knows Middlesbrough were not at their best, but was delighted to see them find a way to win as they recorded a third consecutive league victory against Cardiff City.

Goals from Isaiah Jones and Emmanuel Latte Lath sealed the three points as Boro moved up to 16th in the Championship table. But they were made to wait for it against a Bluebirds side who showed little intent and instead looked to frustrate the home side

It was working for the visitors, particularly in a below-par first half from Carrick’s side. But growing into the game, Boro improved in the second half and found a way to keep their positive momentum going, even if they still weren’t ever at their free-flowing best.

Carrick reflected after: “I’m pleased. There were a lot of good things in the game. We had to make a few changes for different reasons and I thought the boys did well, grew into the game and improved as it went on. It’s a good result. We managed it really well in the second half, with the boys coming off the bench and making an impact. So there were a lot of good things.

“100% the message at half-time was to stay calm and keep trying. We could sense the frustration around the stadium in the first half, which doesn’t really help the players. But I thought they stuck to it, which is pleasing. They believed in what they were doing and I thought the last ten minutes of the first half we finished it very well.

Teams are going to come and make it difficult for us at times, so we can’t always expect it to be free-flowing all the time. They’re a good team who were on a good run, so we knew it was going to be a tough game. Lukas was coming back into the side after some time out. Sam was the same, coming in for his first start. Tommy came back into the team after a stop-start few weeks.

“So in that respect, it was understandable that it didn’t quite click. But as the game wore on, the boys grew into it. The boys were calm enough and I thought second half we were really good and deserved to get the win.”