Carrick tempers Boro's play-off expectations after win at Blackburn
Middlesbrough are up to fifth in the Championship after their win at Blackburn Rovers, but Michael Carrick played down their play-off hopes.
Michael Carrick insisted he would not get carried away with Middlesbrough's 2-1 win away to Blackburn Rovers, a result that moved them into the Championship's top six.
Two goals in the opening 10 minutes for Boro did the damage, with Rovers boss Valerien Ismael still awaiting his first victory since taking over from John Eustace.
Tommy Conway needed just two minutes to put the visitors ahead, neatly flicking Kelechi Iheanacho's pass over Joe Rankin-Costello before finishing past Aynsley Pears.
Iheanacho was involved again for Boro's second of the game, setting Samuel Iling-Junior up on the edge of the box, with his deflected strike wrongfooting the Blackburn keeper.
Boro's victory lifted them to fifth in the standings, though Coventry City, West Bromwich Albion and Bristol City are all in action on Saturday and could climb above them.
Middlesbrough last competed in the Premier League in 2016-17, with a real possibility of returning to the top flight this season after a string of impressive results.
Carrick, however, was quick to temper those lofty expectations, saying he will continue to take Boro's remaining league fixtures one game at a time.
"Let's not get too carried away, there is a lot to go. I've seen it before. I'm old enough and ugly enough to know what the end of this season brings," Carrick said.
"Tonight was a good win for us and we've got another big game on Tuesday night.
"We'll take each game as it comes and we're in a good place."
For Blackburn, meanwhile, their slump down the table continued, with the Rovers supporters making their feelings known to the club's hierarchy throughout the game.
The opening stages proved to be tough viewing for Blackburn chief executive Steve Waggott, chief operating officer Suhail Pasha and head of football operations Rudy Gestede.
The trio were sat in the stands despite fan groups urging them not to attend the remainder of Rovers' home games this season.
Blackburn have now lost five games in a row for the first time since February 2021 under Tony Mowbray, though Ismael believes that luck is simply not on their side.
"We want to start the game well and it puts you in a difficult situation [conceding after 74 seconds]. We can avoid the goal. We lost two important duels," Ismael said.
"The second goal shows the situation at the minute, deflecting into our own goal.
"I think at the end of the first half and completely in the second half is how we wanted to start the game with more belief, desire, focus on ourselves.
"The performance was there, you just need to stay at 0-0 for as long as possible and at some point to make a chance.
"We had a good chance in the second half to score but we don't have the luck at the minute.
"The first mistake you make or the opponent's first shot goes in the goal, so it's difficult."