CONFIDENT Michael Carrick believes his Middlesbrough side will be well equipped to push for Championship promotion next season.

Carrick and his players have all benefited from the ups and downs of a rollercoaster campaign that ended earlier this month, and the Boro head coach said: "I genuinely do believe, for everything we had to go through, we will be stronger for it next season."

After a major summer overhaul 12 months ago, Boro endured a rotten start to the season but impressively got back on track, only to then be knocked off their stride by an unprecedented injury crisis. Carrick's side then finished the season strongly and ended the campaign just four points outside the play-off places - sparking a feel of real optimism ahead of next term.

“I hope there is," said Carrick.

"Certainly from us - from the players, from the staff and from me - there was a lot of positives to take from the season and our form towards the end.

"I think we’ve shown what we can be capable of. Next season is a whole new thing and we start again from scratch, but hopefully we can build on the positives."

Boro will strengthen their squad in several areas this summer, with Luke Ayling set to be first through the door when his Leeds United contract expires. A central-midfielder, a striker and versatile forward are also on the club's wishlist.

Carrick also believes there's a lot more to come from his current crop of players, who he says will have benefited from the experiences and challenges of the last 12 months.

He said: “Experience is vital and it’s great if you use it in the right way.

"We’ve certainly had that. If you look at the season, then it was maybe a four-team cycle where we’ve had to evolve and change because of groups of injuries at certain points.

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"The team ended up evolving quite quickly, and looking a bit different to how it had been. From a coaching and a management side, we had to manage that and get the best out of the group quite quickly.

"That experience in itself helped us to adapt and find different little ways, and the players reacted to that really well. Sometimes there are things you can only have a certain amount of control over as well and you’ve got to make the best of and adapt.

"Certain times in the season we did that well, other times we can probably learn from and do things a little different. But overall, I think there was a lot of good work.

"Hopefully (next season), we’ll have more variety in our play, extra strengths that we can call upon. Sometimes we’ve experienced that through choice, but sometimes situations have forced us into that. But we’ll definitely benefit from it moving into next season."