TONY PULIS admits Middlesbrough’s fringe players have given him plenty of food for thought after another penalty shoot-out win took the Teessiders into the fourth round of the Carabao Cup.

Having played out a 2-2 draw at Preston, Grant Leadbitter, Rudy Gestede, Paddy McNair and Marcus Tavernier all found the net as Boro claimed a 4-3 win on spot-kicks.

The Teessiders scored all of their penalties as they beat Notts County in the League Cup first round, and while Pulis changed all 11 members of his starting line-up last night, his supposed second-string kept up their impressive League Cup record.

Ashley Fletcher and Tavernier scored as Boro twice came from behind, with Sam McQueen, Grant Leadbitter and Lewis Wing also producing impressive performances to give Pulis a nudge as he ponders his line-up for Saturday’s Championship game at Hull City.

“I thought it was a really good performance,” said Pulis, who did not name a single member of last weekend’s starting line-up against Swansea in his 18-man squad. “The first team have done really well this season, they have been pretty consistent since the season started so there hasn’t been many changes.

“So there’s a lot of senior players who haven’t had a game, then you go on to the kids and we've had four kids in the starting XI and six on the bench.

“So we've got ten kids that have come through the academy system that have been involved tonight, which I think is fabulous for the football club. It's great for the area, it shows that the people that are doing the job in the academy are doing things the right way.

“The good thing is you've seen tonight that the ones behind that (starting) group are all having a go and there were some very, very good performances.”

Boro’s academy production line has long played a key role in the club’s development, and Pulis appears determined to follow in his predecessors’ footsteps by giving the youngsters a chance.

Sixteen-year-old Nathan Wood made another start at centre-half, with his fellow teenager, Tavernier, scoring a superb second-half goal before successfully converting his side’s final spot-kick.

“We’re together as a football club,” said Pulis. “Some academies are a little bit distant but we’re not, we’re together and we want to bring these kids through.

“There’s Woody, only 16 years of age, Tav, they were absolutely fantastic tonight. Harry’s (Chapman) come on and done smashing, (Lewis) Wingy as well, so yes it's been really good.

“We're trying stick an identity on the football team, I think it's important that football clubs have identities and one of the main ones is every game we play, if we put the shirt on we work really hard, we give everything we possibly can.

“But I also thought some of our football was excellent. The first goal was a well-worked goal which started on the edge of our box and finished in the back of their net, and Tav's strike was sublime.”

As was the case in Boro’s first-round win, Pulis was delighted with his players’ willingness to step forward and take a spot-kick. Leadbitter set the tone with a clinical first strike, and none of Boro’s penalty takers looked like missing.

“I wanted Grant to be first, to pick the baton up, and then the rest were all fighting over it,” said Pulis. “The five that were selected, there was another five behind them who all wanted to take them, so that’s brilliant really.

“I always let the players decide. The ones that are confident take the penalties, it's no good forcing someone to take a penalty if they don't fancy it. But they all fancied it.”