MICHAEL CARRICK says his goalkeeping selection for this evening’s Carabao Cup tie at Leeds United should not be interpreted as evidence of a shot-stopping pecking order at the club.

While Zach Hemming and Jamie Jones both left this summer, with the former joining Leyton Orient on loan and the latter signing a permanent deal at Salford City, Boro still have three experienced senior goalkeepers on their books.

Seny Dieng, who started last weekend’s Championship opener against Swansea City, is firmly established as Boro’s number one, with Tom Glover and Sol Brynn providing competition beneath him. Glover was named on the bench against the Swans, with Brynn omitted from the matchday squad.

Dieng is likely to be rested at Elland Road tonight, but Carrick says it would be wrong to read too much into his choice between Glover and Brynn as to who steps in to replace the Senegal international.

“I genuinely think we’ve got three very good goalkeepers,” said the Boro boss. “Seny has obviously played in the majority of the games, Tom had a really good spell last season when he was in the team and Sol has come back from a really good loan and is pushing to play.

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“There’s not a hierarchy. It’s very similar to the rest of the playing squad – everyone’s got to be ready to play, and at certain times, that’s how it’ll be. The positive side for me is that there’s three good goalkeepers to choose from and, as and when we need them or they’re ready to be used, we’re confident in them to do that.”

Having been drawn away to a Leeds side who started the season as favourites to win the Championship title, Boro could hardly have been handed a tougher task in their opening League Cup game.

Carrick, however, is pleased to have such a difficult tie at such an early stage of the season as he feels it will provide a valuable gauge of where his players are at as they look to improve on last season’s eighth-place finish.

“It’s a good draw and we’re looking forward to it,” he said. “It’s a good game, a proper game. We’ve sold out our allocation and we’ve got a really good game ahead of us. We’ll go down and attack what is a really good cup tie.

“You never know how teams will approach these type of games, but for us, I think it gives us a chance to play games after so much training and friendly matches over the summer. The boys are desperate to play in games like this now. We’re quite happy with having three games this week.”