Boro’s 2-1 win over Oxford United on Saturday was hard-earned, given Carrick’s side had to come from behind at half-time to claim three points.
But Middlesbrough succeeded in winning three league matches in a row at the Riverside Stadium for the first time since October 2023.
And while that could be perceived to be disappointing in many respects, Carrick hopes the bigger picture is that his squad are coming good at just the right time.
He said: “I really hope so. Momentum is important. Timing your run and timing your momentum. We went through a sticky patch results wise, but it was always in the back of my head that if we could just flip this, we’ll be in a good place at the right time.
“It’s all ahead of us and certainly the feeling from the boys – the quality, the spirit, the quality of the football at times, and learning from days like this whether you’ve got to dig deep and really find a way to win – it can all help us moving forward.”
With seven matches remaining, Middlesbrough have only lost one of their last six matches and won four of those to climb back into the play-off picture after a run of seven defeats from eight games.
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Coupled with West Brom losing at Norwich and Bristol City suffering defeat at Burnley, Middlesbrough are firmly back in with a chance of a top six spot.
Carrick said: “There is no getting away from it, it’s an extra boost. I’ve said it before, we just have to stay in that mix.
“We always felt we had a chance and we weren’t far away from being right in the mix. Now we are. But we can’t get too carried away.
“There is next week and next week after that etc. If you’d have looked at half-time, without knowing what the scores were then, it was likely a different picture.
“So, we’re careful in how we judge that, but we’re definitely in there and we look forward to Friday night now.”
But there is no chance to breathe. Middlesbrough have to travel to Blackburn on Friday before the visit of Leeds United next Tuesday.
After watching Kelechi Iheanacho and defender Neto Borges score their first goals for Middlesbrough to overturn Oxford’s half-time lead, though, Carrick thinks things are looking bright for the run-in.
He said: “At this time of the year we can get down about certain times of games, moments, it can affect you but this is a good result for all of us, for me, players and supporters.
“There is going to be a hell of a lot more ups and downs before the end of the season. We can’t let it affect us. We have to stay positive with it.”
