TARMO Kink and Andy Halliday provided Middlesbrough manager Tony Mowbray with a reminder of their goalscoring abilities yesterday as they found the target in a behind-closed-doors development game with Carlisle.

A reasonably strong second-string side that also featured Seb Hines and Malaury Martin slipped to a 3-2 defeat to the Cumbrians at Rockliffe Park.

Kink opened the scoring in the opening three minutes, and the Estonia international, who has been something of a forgotten man this season, will be hoping to force his way back into Boro's 16-man squad for this weekend's Championship game at Peterborough.

He was not involved at all last weekend, despite representing his country in both of their Euro 2012 play-off games against the Republic of Ireland, and has only made one first-team substitute appearance all season.

Halliday has not even managed that, but after Patrick Madden equalised for Carlisle yesterday, the Scot fired Boro back ahead when he diverted a Richie Smallwood effort into the net.

Halliday, who was a regular starter under Gordon Strachan, does not appear to be involved in Mowbray's first-team plans, while Smallwood has struggled to hold down a senior spot this season despite a number of impressive performances in the latter stages of the previous campaign.

The pair finished on the losing side yesterday after Francoise Zoko took advantage of a Bruno Pilatos foul to score from the penalty spot and Mark Buck headed home from close range with 17 minutes left.

The result will have disappointed Boro's coaching staff, but they will have been pleased to see Hines come through unscathed.

The Harrogate-born defender has been sidelined for the last fortnight with swelling on his right knee, but there appeared to be no ill effects as he eased himself back into action.