MICHAEL Carrick is excited by Tommy Conway's bright start at Middlesbrough with the forward quickly impressing his new head coach on and off the pitch.

Carrick has been struck by how quickly Conway has settled on Teesside since moving from Bristol City. And Boro's boss has been equally as impressed by how well the Scotland international has adapted to different challenges and playing in different positions.

Conway's first two league appearances came from the bench when Boro were chasing games against Derby and Portsmouth, with the 22-year-old rescuing a point against Pompey with a last minute penalty.

He was then handed his first start in the win at Cardiff last time out.

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Conway arrived having played his football at Bristol City as a striker but Carrick believes he can be just as effective in the slightly deeper No.10 role.

“It’s the next phase for Tommy in his career now really," said Carrick.

"He’s had a really good start and got really good experience to this point, which for us is really encouraging.

"He’s still young but is at a stage where he’s already played so much at this level. We’ll give him time and be patient to settle in. He actually played a couple of different roles for us today, which all the forwards can do.

"But he’ll settle in and get to know it better as time goes. He’s settled well so far. He has big aspirations to keep improving with us and at international level as well, which will come naturally as long as he keeps improving with us.

"It wasn’t an easy one for him (at Cardiff). It was his first start for quite some time and I was intrigued to see how he would fit in and I thought he fitted in great."