provide the perfect platform for fringe players and we are happy we got him from…….
Middlesbrough’s run in the Carabao Cup this season has been useful for numerous reasons and certainly for many individuals – particularly many of the 12 who newly joined in the summer.
In a season that will see Boro celebrate the 20-year anniversary of their League Cup triumph, it feels ever so fitting that they have now advanced to the furthest stage of the competition in five years. Their 3-2 victory over Exeter City was the latest in which the competition provided the perfect platform for Boro’s players on the fringe to show what they can do.“There were a lot of things that I liked about our performance,” Carrick said post-match. “I made seven changes tonight and coming here that’s not easy. But I made those changes with full belief in the boys coming in and knowing what they can do. It’s fantastic to have that and it shows the spirit and togetherness in the squad.”
Carrick’s seven changes in Devon was another example of the head coach not being afraid to ring the changes in the cup while still maintaining his desire and belief in his side winning. In dispatching Huddersfield Town, Bolton Wanderers and Bradford City before Exeter, the competition had provided Carrick with the means of evening out game-time throughout his squad.
It’s rather fitting then that at Exeter it was three men who have benefited from that policy most who scored the second-half Boro goals to put their name in the hat for the quarter-final draw. Morgan Rogers, Sammy Silvera and Emmanuel Latte Lath all added to their goal tallies in this season’s competition.
What was particularly pleasing about this latest cup victory was that it came amid so many changes, with Carrick able to rest some important players after a leggy-looking defeat to Stoke City at the weekend. Those who came in for the game, like those in the rounds before them, made sure to impress.
Alex Bangura, making his first start since getting injured in his first game for the club, probably edged man of the match, after playing a crucial role in two of Boro’s three goals. On the opposite flank, Anfernee Dijksteel made his first start of the season and was hugely impressive in getting forward throughout. That could well yet prove huge for Boro too, with Tommy Smith out for the season
