Middlesbrough boss Michael Carrick looking to strengthen but still happy with his lot after Millwall defeat

Romain Esse’s first senior goal enabled Millwall to start the new Championship season in style as they claimed a 1-0 win at The Riverside.

Second-half substitute Esse, 18, had only been on the pitch for five minutes when he latched on to Aidomo Emakhu’s low cross and his excellent first-time finish found the top corner.

The 79th-minute goal was no more than Millwall deserved given their superiority to that point, with Zian Flemming and Kevin Nisbet also having gone close to a breakthrough.

Middlesbrough, who made the play-offs last season, were disappointing, with their need for additional signings in attack glaringly apparent throughout.

Millwall were the better side for most of the game, with Flemming immediately striking up a decent understanding with fellow forward Nisbet, who joined this summer from Hibernian.

“It’s disappointing,” said Carrick. “We came here to try to win the game, but in the first game of the season, sometimes you don’t really know what to expect.

“I think we had good players on that pitch, who were capable of playing in a good team and playing well. They were capable of scoring goals and creating goals.

“Just because we lost the game, it doesn’t always mean what people might label it with. The players are definitely good enough. It doesn’t stop us from wanting to improve, but it’s an easy throwaway thing to say that because we didn’t win and we didn’t score, we need (new) players to get to where we want to be.

“I would like to add players, but I’m really happy with the players we’ve got in the squad.”

Middlesbrough: Dieng, McNair, Fry, Lenihan, Coulson (Silvera 69), Barlaser (Howson 76), Hackney, Forss, Crooks (Isaiah Jones 87), McGree, Rogers. Unused substitutes: van den Berg, Gilbert, Coburn, Payero, Glover, Akpom.

Millwall: Sarkic, Hutchinson, Cooper, Wallace, McNamara, Mitchell, De Norre (Saville 64), Watmore (Esse 73), Bryan (Leonard 90), Flemming (Emakhu 73), Nisbet (Bradshaw 90). Unused substitutes: Evans, Voglsammer, Bialkowski, Harding.

Referee: Gavin Ward (Surrey).