TONY MOWBRAY is confident he will get the best out of Mustapha Carayol and Emmanuel Ledesma next season and believes the pair will prove dabbling in the lower leagues can be fruitful.

The attackers arrived at the Riverside last summer and, although both slowed glimpses of talent, their first campaign stepping up proved to be frustrating.

Carayol, who joined from Bristol Rovers in a deal worth £100,000, impressed early on, but suffered a knee injury that kept him out for the best part of five months.

Ledesma’s pre-season performances suggested Mowbray had found a gem following his move from Walsall, but he also struggled with form and spent most of the season drifting in and out of the team.

The boss admits last season was a learning curve for both, but remains confident they can establish themselves as Championship players.

“I think they’ll have benefited from last season, no matter how much they played,” Mowbray said.

“Muzzy (Carayol) started so well but then he suffered a bad injury and missed five months of the season.

“When he came back he showed again what he can do so we’ve got high hopes that Muzzy can show us all what he’s got under the bonnet.

“Manu (Ledesma) is a delight to work with. He’s a great professional and he’s got bags of talent. It will only have benefited him to step up from Walsall to the demands of a team with aspirations to get out of this league.

“It’s a big step up but I think he’s showed he has the quality to bridge that gap and hopefully he’ll have a better season for us too.”