Michael Carrick revealed his pride in a complete team performance that saw his Middlesbrough side leapfrog Watford into third in the Championship table.

First-half goals from Chuba Akpom and Marcus Forss set Boro up for an impressive and deserved victory against a top-six rival, with Boro responding to last weekend's disappointment in superb fashion with a dominant display.

The win also saw Carrick's side keep a second successive home clean sheet as they shut the Hornets out even though they were missing Dael Fry through suspension. Having bettered Watford in both shots and shots on target as well as possession, Carrick felt it was a performance where the whole side played their part.

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He said: “I have to say, I thought for 60 or 70 minutes, I really liked the Millwall performance. I thought we managed to nullify them and take away their threat quite a lot in that one. I thought we did that today again as well. We tried to stop the service and the problems they can cause at their source - being proactive to the issues that can arise before they arrive.

"That means we get a clean sheet, and of course, Zack [Steffen] and the back four get the pat on the back, but I think as a team, everyone should be recognised. Today’s performance defensively came from everybody being part of it.

"In football now, I don’t think you can just rely on having a good back four and a good goalkeeper to keep clean sheets. It’s got to come from the front and I thought it did today."

First half in particular, Boro looked as good as they have in any game since Carrick's arrival - which is a big compliment given the high standards they've set during the 13-game run that has seen them climb the table thanks to nine victories.

And asked if he enjoyed watching the performance, Carrick continued: “I enjoy watching them all the time because they’re good lads and I know they’re trying to do the right things. Sometimes it might not click and go for us, but other times we will play well and it will click like it did today.

"It makes me really proud of the effort that they’ve put in and I thought they really deserved the result they got today. We played some really good football, stuck to the plan, stuck to the organisation, worked hard for each other and it was a really good team performance. In and out of possession, there were some really good things that we’ve got to take forward."

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