‘Take that’ – Middlesbrough boss pleased after ‘in control’ Sheffield Wednesday win

A Michael Ihiekwe own goal and a deflected strike from Isaiah Jones was enough to give Boro a 2-0 win over the Owls, but it could’ve been more had converted some of the other chances they created – or scored from the penalty spot.

It meant that Wednesday once again missed out on the chance to climb out of the bottom three, but for the hosts it was six games unbeaten and they kept their chances of a top six finish alive.

“We were largely in control,” Carrick said afterwards. “There were maybe 10 or 15 minutes when they had a little bit more possession and they had that one opportunity down the left side, but once we got into the rhythm of the game and settled in I thought we were really good…

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“It was the game we were hoping for. We were trying to play that type of game, limiting the transitions, limiting the big spaces and trying to play a controlled game to build the pressure. I thought the boys did that really well for most of the game.

"We pressed really well after the first 15 minutes or so, once we settled into it, and after that, I thought we were largely in control. We played some good football, and probably should have created more clear-cut chances than we did. I thought we had opportunities to do that but just didn’t quite have the final pass. But to keep a clean sheet, score two and play well, we’ll definitely take that.”