DELIGHTED Michael Carrick said Middlesbrough's 5-0 hammering of Reading showed his side are still getting better - which is bound to worry their Championship promotion rivals.

Boro closed the gap to Sheffield United back to four points with their seventh successive home win as they put on a five-star show against the struggling Royals.

For the fourth time under Carrick, a defeat was followed by a victory as Boro bounced back from their West Brom setback last time out.

And while Carrick isn't sure whether it's the most complete performance of his time in charge so far, he says the impressive victory showed his in-form side are still improving.

"I don’t want to say it was the best one (performance), but it was good and we definitely showed we are improving in certain parts of the game, which is really encouraging," said Carrick.

"Not just for me as well, but the boys to feel that success. That’s the challenge to keep on an upward trajectory."

Chuba Akpom and Aaron Ramsey both scored twice for Boro, with substitute Marcus Forss adding a fifth from the bench.

Carrick felt Boro were rewarded for their blistering start to the game.

He said: "I'm really pleased. It's been a good week actually. We had a setback last week but we weren't pulling ourselves off the floor because I thought we played pretty well for large parts.

"All week the boys have been terrific. Came in, played well and then started the game off the back of that probably as good as we've started. Good intensity, good quality of play, building pressure, chances. That built throughout the game but the start got us up and running in a good way."

Paddy McNair missed the game after suffering a nasty blow to the face against West Brom, while Matt Crooks was also absent from the squad.

Carrick explained: “Crooksy just got a niggle in training this week that put him out of the game, but hopefully it’s not too severe.

"We’ll have to wait and see because it only happened on Friday. With Paddy, he just wasn’t in a place to play. It would have been a bit of a push so we didn’t take that risk. Hopefully he’ll be okay for next week."