PERHAPS the answer to Middlesbrough’s shaky start to the season is to keep playing away games in the Carabao Cup. Having triumphed at Huddersfield and Bolton in the opening two rounds of the competition, Michael Carrick’s side made it a hat-trick of victories on the road this evening as they comprehensively outplayed Bradford City at Valley Parade.

Admittedly, it would be dangerous to read too much into a one-sided game against League Two opposition, and Boro will face a much tougher test of their credentials if tomorrow’s draw pits them against Premier League opposition in round four.

After finally claiming a first league win at the weekend, though, last night’s emphatic success nevertheless maintained the momentum that was generated at the Riverside against Southampton and suggested there is more depth within Carrick’s squad than might previously have been envisaged.

Carrick’s decision to make seven changes to his starting side was interesting given that he had spoken of wanting to avoid ‘wholesale alterations’ in the build-up to the game, but he will feel it was fully justified given his shadow side’s dominant display.

The likes of Emmanuel Latte Lath, who opened the scoring in the first half, and Morgan Rogers, who added a second Boro goal shortly after the interval, will have benefited from being part of a morale-boosting victory, while Dan Barlaser also caught the eye with a neat and industrious performance at the heart of midfield.

Perhaps tellingly, though, it was Riley McGree and Hayden Hackney who were the key architects of the victory, passing around Bradford’s midfielders and making a series of effective forays into the opposition’s 18-yard box. The pair will be crucial to Boro’s ongoing attempts to climb the Championship table; they are certainly much too good to be lining up against midfielders used to plying their trade in the fourth tier.

With McGree and Hackney pulling the strings, the Teessiders were sharp and incisive from the off, popping passes around nicely in midfield and snapping at Bradford’s defenders to deny them time and space on the ball.

The visitors should probably have been ahead inside three minutes, but while Lewis O’Brien made his way into the heart of the penalty area from his starting position at left-back, he could only prod Tommy Smith’s low cross over the bar.

McGree and Sammy Silvera both fired in early efforts that failed to find the target, but Boro were not to be denied for too much longer and deservedly claimed the lead just before the midway point in the first half.

As was the case for much of the evening, it was the speed and incisiveness of Boro’s midfield passing that unlocked the Bradford defence, with Hackney receiving the ball close to the halfway line before breaking a tackle and surging forward.

He slipped a through ball into the path of Latte Lath, and while the Ivorian’s first-time strike should probably have been saved by Harry Lewis, the ball squirmed past the Bradford goalkeeper’s left hand and nestled in the net.

It was Latte Lath’s second goal since his summer move from Atalanta, and a third would have arrived four minutes later had Lewis not at least partially atoned for his error for the goal.

Boro’s new number nine rose impressively to meet another dangerous delivery from Smith from the right, but while his header had plenty of power, Lewis kept it out with a smart pointblank save.

Latte Lath’s confidence was visibly growing, aided no doubt by the extent of Middlesbrough’s overall dominance which saw them boast more than 70 per cent of possession for much of an utterly one-sided first half.

Boro’s only nervous moment before the break was of their own making, with stand-in goalkeeper Tom Glover coming to claim a Bradford free-kick but only succeeding in taking out Paddy McNair. The ball broke free in the 18-yard box, but O’Brien was alert to the danger and able to hack clear.

The only risk Boro faced after taking the lead was failing to make the most of their complete dominance. A second goal was always going to make the evening easier, and it came nine minutes after the break as the Teessiders picked up where they had left off before the interval.

McGree’s driving runs were a key part of Boro’s attacking threat all night, as they had been in Saturday’s league win over Southampton, and the Australian’s break to the byline proved decisive in doubling his side’s lead.

McGree spotted Rogers sprinting towards the six-yard box, and delivered a perfect cross for the former Manchester City forward to flick home from close range.

O’Brien, who has slipped seamlessly into Boro’s previously troublesome left-back spot, almost grabbed a third goal with a shot from inside the area that was saved by Lewis, and while Alex Bangura will hope to force his way back into the starting side once he returns from injury in the next couple of weeks, he could find it hard to dislodge the O’Brien from the line-up. The Nottingham Forest loanee might have arrived at the Riverside as a midfielder, but he is making a more than decent fist of slotting in on the left of the back four.

He was part of a Boro backline that never looked like being breached last night, with Smith and McNair able to ease themselves back into the starting side without ever being seriously extended.

Glover had very little to do, although he did get down to make a decent late save from Bantams substitute Alex Pattison.