MICHAEL Carrick admits Middlesbrough's confidence has taken a hit after his side's worrying run of form continued with a dismal defeat at Stoke City.

Boro are now just six points above the relegation zone after their fourth defeat in five games, with Bae Junho and Lewis Baker scoring either side of half-time to wrap up a deserved victory for the Potters at the bet365 Stadium on Saturday.

Boro had their moments in the first half before a Luke Ayling mistake led to the opening goal, but Carrick's side didn't show up after the break and their only second half shot on target came in the 94th minute.

Boro have now won just one in their last seven games in the Championship ahead of a decisive spell, with games against Norwich City, QPR and Birmingham to come in the next week and a half.

"Confidence when you're not winning is tested without doubt," said Carrick.

"That's the human side to sport. You can't expect the boys to be flying because we haven't had good results but I thought there was enough in the way we started the game, we came here to win the game."

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Riley McGree and Emmanuel Latte Lath went close for Boro early on at Stoke and Carrick was encouraged by the way his side started the game. But he said the first goal was always going to be pivotal and admitted his side weren't good enough after the break.

"It didn't end well but I thought it started well enough," said Boro's head coach.

"It was always going to be a tough one, a bit of an arm wrestle and I thought we got to grips with it pretty well early on and had some really good chances.

"When we had the ball at times I thought we looked dangerous. Probably our best little spell was not long after Sam's (Greenwood) volley. Then we had a bit of a spell and then they scored and then we didn't really get to grips and chased the game as well as we would like after that.

"We didn't chase the game well enough in terms of our decision making and ideas. It wasn't effort or attitude, they were trying but when it is tough it can seem a lot tougher and we didn't have the ball in the right part of the pitch for long enough and that's something we need to look at."

Right-back Ayling misjudged a bounce in the lead up to the opening goal but Carrick refused to point the finger.

He said: "Most goals do have some sort of mistake in them. Yeah, the first goal was important today and it definitely didn't go our way."