Middlesbrough boss Michael Carrick right to trust his instincts as Leeds United date looms large

The Teessiders moved up to ninth in the Championship standings as a result of Tuesday night’s 4-0 hammering of play-off rivals Preston North End at the Riverside.

Winger Isaiah Jones’s calmly-taken double in the 16th and 37th minutes sandwiched Rav van den Berg’s first senior goal in the 26th minute after he scored from a corner.

Even though the points had already been secured at half-time, Middlesbrough full-back Alex Bangura curled in from just inside the area to make it 4-0 in the fourth minute of added-time at the end of the contest.

And even though Boro went into the potentially tricky encounter without eight senior players, manager Carrick was confident he still had a strong enough team to secure an eighth win out of the last 11 league games.

"We lost Dael Fry and Hayden Hackney (groin and hamstring injuries) from Saturday,” said Carrick. “It tends to be the way we are going. We had eight senior players out.

“But I was still confident going into the game, there was good balance even if it was quite new in terms of the changes. I thought we were in good shape and that proved to be the case.

On the performance itself, Carrick was pleased with the way his team dealt with a team likely to remain one of their main rivals for a top-six finish this season.

“We played well in spells, that’s football,” added the former England midfielder. “Performance-wise we have played better in some games, but goals at both ends tell the story.

“We were ruthless, we created and defended very well in terms of limiting them. It was a new back four who hadn’t played together before, they played well.

“We will definitely take 4-0. I can’t fault the boys, sometimes it will work and sometimes it might go against us.

“That’s why the squad is vital and we can’t make excuses. The boys cracked on and we are now preparing for Saturday.”