MICHAEL Carrick was delighted with the ruthless manner in which Middlesbrough took advantage of Dan Neil's, revealing that he told his players they'd have to work even harder after Sunderland went down to 10 men.

Neil was sent off for dissent in first half stoppage time in Saturday's Wear-Tees derby and Boro ran riot after the break, with Sam Greenwood, Matt Crooks, Isaiah Jones and Marcus Forss on the scoresheet as Carrick's side won for the fourth successive game.

Carrick was naturally delighted with the victory and particularly pleased with the way his players took his half-time message on board.

Carrick said: "We spoke about it half-time. It’s a mentality thing. It’s so easy to assume having the man advantage will make it easier and subconsciously slow down. You then lose your intensity with and without the ball.

"But we were conscious of that at the break and we said they almost had to work harder with the extra man. The boys did well and managed the game ever so well. They looked dangerous which was key.

"You can spend all day having the ball, but if you don’t do anything with it…

"The scoreline says everything about how good we were with the ball. We had a good balance, kept winning the ball back quick and eased the pressure. On paper, the man advantage should always make it an easy one, but it’s not always easy. The boys done so well."

READ MORE:

Carrick added: "I'm obviously delighted. It's a terrific result, a really good day. They're a really good team, we knew it would be challenging but I thought we weathered that and started the game really well.

"The game changed on a couple of moments but playing against 10 men can be difficult. We were conscious of that and we wanted to almost play like we had the 10 men, that mentality. The boys did that so well."

Asked for his verdict on the red card decision, Carrick said: "I haven't got a clue, I don't know what was said or the incident. It was a surprise to see it. I don't know what's gone on, we just had to make the most of it really."