MICHAEL Carrick says it's hard to rationalise Middlesbrough's second half collapse against Huddersfield Town, but insists the defeat "won't change the course of Boro's season".

Boro were ahead at the break against struggling Town and looked well set to go on and wrap up three points, but capitulated in the early stages of the second half as the Terriers scored four goals in quick succession.

Chuba Akpom got one back for Boro but the damage was already done.

Carrick said: "I thought in the first half it was pretty much what we expected, they're a tough team to break down and are pretty much man to man all over the pitch.

"It's not easy to break down but we were patient, they can frustrate you but we were patient and I was pretty happy with the way things were going. We still wanted more and we came out hoping for more.

"Sometimes you get it in football where you can't really rationalise a little burst in the game and three moments in 10 minutes kind of, it is what it is, then you're chasing the game after that. It's disappointing. I can't fault the effort and attitude but moments cost us."

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Carrick continued: "It's football. Let's not get carried away. Football throws things up and sometimes it's hard to understand why.

"The boys have been good for a period of time, quite stable and consistent. That's what this league can do if you lose that concentration or that little edge for a short space of time. It's not often you concede three goals that we ended up conceding in a short space of time. Today was one that went against us."

Huddersfield levelled just 22 seconds into the second half before scoring three more goals in the 20 minutes that followed.

With Sheffield United winning at Norwich, Boro are now six points off second place and the Blades have a game in hand.

Despite the surprise defeat, Carrick called for perspective.

He said: "I'm not going to go through everything we said but we have to be stable and understand what's gone wrong and learn from it.

"I can't fault the effort and attitude and wanting to do the right things. Sometimes the decision making and things going against you, sometimes you get away with it, sometimes you don't. You don't always get three goals going in against you that quickly.

"We have to be calm. It's not acceptable obviously but at the same point we have a big game Friday and have a big game coming up. We have come a long way this season and this doesn't tell the story of the season.

"It's a game we haven't come out on top of but it won't change the course of our season."