TOMMY Conway was Middlesbrough's allocated penalty taker against Norwich City and would have taken his side's second half spot kick regardless of whether or not he was on a hat-trick, Michael Carrick confirmed.

Conway scored a penalty for Boro against Portsmouth earlier this season and would have stepped up at Carrow Road regardless of the circumstances.

Boro were in a position of power after Conway's first half double and a goal from Finn Azaz but the Scotland international's missed penalty 20 minutes from time when he was denied by home keeper George Long proved a turning point, as Norwich staged an unlikely late comeback to draw 3-3.

Borja Sainz - who had put Norwich ahead early on - scored a second stunner to make it 3-2 before Kellen Fisher's attempted cross beat Seny Dieng at his front post.

Despite his spot-kick disappointment, Conway's penalty miss won't overshadow what Carrick felt was an excellent display from his striker, who was given the nod ahead of Emmanuel Latte Lath for a second successive game.

And Boro's boss insists the penalty miss wasn't the decisive turning point in the game.

“I don’t necessarily see it that way," said Boro's boss.

"We had a chance or two before that to get the next goal. You feel the energy in the stadium turn. In some ways, the turning point, I’d say, is the second goal. He puts it in the top corner and the game swings.

"I still fancied us at that point to score again but we couldn’t quite pull it off. I don’t think the missed penalty particularly affected us."

Carrick added: “That [the penalty] definitely won’t overshadow anything, from my perspective.

"There are always little moments in games that define it. He’ll be disappointed, of course, but equally, he’s fine. I thought he did really well today - all the boys were really good. We won’t isolate one thing and make it overshadow the whole day or the whole week.

"A penalty can go either way, and they’ve put two in the top corner from 25 yards. Football is football - it’s horrible at times, but it is what it is."

Carrick was asked whether Conway only took the spot-kick because he was on a hat-trick, and said: "No, he's taken one before and scored it."