FRUSTRATED Michael Carrick says Middlesbrough's 3-3 draw at Plymouth "feels like a defeat".

Boro led 1-0 and 3-2 against Argyle but were twice pegged back in a pulsating game played in filthy weather conditions, and while Carrick says there are plenty of positives to take from the performance, the overriding emotion was disappointment.

Josh Coburn put Boro ahead midway inside the first half before a double from Bali Mumba and Finn Azaz gave the home side the lead at the break. Boro improved after the break and won a penalty on the hour mark when Sam Greenwood was fouled. Coburn's spot-kick was saved but the striker scored the rebound, before Greenwood put Carrick's side ahead.

At that stage, Boro looked well set to go on and pick up all three points, only for Morgan Whittaker to curl a free-kick from the right through a crowd of bodies in the box and into the far corner 13 minutes from time.

READ MORE:

Carrick said: "We did enough to win the game, there was a lot in the performance that was good.

"We didn't give them an awful lot and what we did give them they punished us for. In the second half I thought we were terrific and a free kick from nowhere going in the back post is what it is. It's frustrating.

"It feels a bit like a defeat really but then the positive side of it is we've done enough to win the game so there's plenty of good things in it.

"I didn't think we started particularly well but we looked dangerous and we got the goal. We got in a good position then had a few minutes where we let them into the spaces we knew they wanted to be in. That was frustrating.

"In the second half, I thought we were terrific for most of it and that one free-kick going in at the back post changed the last 10 minutes. It's frustrating.

"We just didn’t get what we deserved in the end. I’m disappointed and it feels like a defeat in many ways, but when you pull yourself away from it and assess it, the performance was certainly there."