LUKAS Engel has bravely admitted that fear of "being a failure" was behind his difficult start to life at Middlesbrough, but he's put those troubles behind him and played a starring role in what he describes as an "unbelievable" turnaround for Michael Carrick's side.

Engel faced the ultimate challenge when he arrived from Silkeborg, in the summer, tasked with replacing Ryan Giles who dazzled for Boro on loan from Wolves last season.

And as Boro struggled in the opening weeks of the campaign, so did the left-back. Carrick's side failed to win any of their first seven games and Engel endured a rotten spell, with the away defeat at West Brom and the draw at Sheffield Wednesday - when he was hooked at half-time - particularly testing.

But after a couple of games out of the firing line, Engel returned to the side and got an assist in the home win over Cardiff - and hasn't looked back.

“I’m really happy for the way I have bounced back," the 25-year-old told BBC Tees.

"That’s football. Sometimes you have games where you’re not particularly great and other times you’re enjoying yourself and playing well. Maybe in the beginning I was a bit afraid of being a failure and because of that I maybe wasn’t expressing myself in the way that I wanted to. But I’ve bounced back and I’m really enjoying myself at the moment."

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Engel certainly enjoyed himself at The Den on Saturday, where he scored his first Boro goal in the 3-1 win at Millwall.

He said: “It’s amazing. I really don’t know what to say. I’ve been waiting for this moment for quite some time now. I’ve had some chances and efforts on goal previously, but this time it went in, and with a 3-1 win as well, I’m really happy."

The win lifted Boro to just a point outside the top six ahead of the visit of bottom club Rotherham this coming weekend. It's been quite the surge from Carrick's men, who were rock bottom after September's 1-1 draw at Sheffield Wednesday.

“It’s unbelievable to think how the season has turned around," said Engel. 

"I think the key is that we all believed in it. Even though the start wasn’t great, we all believed we would be better. And now we’re here and we deserve it because of the way we bounced back. 

"It’s been incredible and the confidence we have right now is helping us along the way. We can be proud, but we know we have to keep going because it’s not over yet."

Carrick stressed the importance of maintaining Championship focus to his players after the Chelsea Carabao Cup win and ahead of the trip to Millwall.

Engel said: “We knew what we had to do after Chelsea. We had a great game then and the fans were unbelievable. 

"We played a great game, but we knew we had to quickly switch on for this one. We talked about it before the game. We can’t sit back and enjoy ourselves because of that one result. We have to dig in and start over and we did that."

Engel also hailed the support of Boro's fans.

He said: “The fans are just fantastic. I can’t remember an away game where they haven’t been there with us. It’s fantastic and we really appreciate them."