DELIGHTED Michael Carrick says "it took a little mix of all sorts" from his Middlesbrough team to convincingly beat Blackpool 3-0 at the Riverside.

After beating rivals Watford last week, Carrick knew the visit of struggling Blackpool would present a completely different challenge.

With Mick McCarthy's side setting out to frustrate Boro, Carrick pressed the need for patience.

And he was thrilled with the way his side coped against their "stubborn" visitors. Chuba Akpom set third-placed Boro on their way to another victory with a stunning goal and added a second after the break before Paddy McNair wrapped up the win.

“I’m happy with that. It wasn’t an easy game and we knew going in it wasn’t going to be easy," said Carrick.

"The situation they’re in and with a good new manager coming in, we knew they’d be stubborn and hard to beat while dangerous on the break. It took a little mix of all sorts again.

"I really liked the application, the attitude and the concentration and focus levels. It’s easy to get frustrated and patient and lose sense of what we’re trying to do when it’s a game like that, but I thought the boys from start to finish were terrific.

"We controlled it for most of it, created chances and looked dangerous and scored goals."

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Blackpool are second bottom in the Championship and desperately require an upturn in form, but Boro's need is great as well as they look to maintain their brilliant form.

Carrick said: "We're fighting for our lives as well, every result means so much.

"Today was different in terms of the attributes we needed to bring to the game. It's easy to get frustrated and try other things and lose your shape but we stuck to it and kept believing.

"A bit of individual brilliance opened the scoring and then we kicked on."