LEADER, skipper, inspiration. And now you can add expert stand-in centre-half to the list too. When it comes to Jonny Howson, it increasingly looks as though there is nothing that Middlesbrough’s captain fantastic cannot do.

Howson has helped out at the heart of the back four before, most notably for a brief spell during Jonathan Woodgate’s managerial tenure, but even so, when he was pressed into action alongside Darragh Lenihan at Luton Town on Monday evening, it felt as though Michael Carrick was having to resort to a round peg to fill a square hole.

Not a bit of it. Howson might have spent the vast majority of his career playing in central midfield or on the right of the back four, but with more than 600 senior appearances under his belt, the 34-year-old was hardly going to be fazed by the switch to central defence.

Facing a Luton side that, like Boro, are preparing for next month’s play-offs, Howson delivered a defensive display that oozed class and composure. Hopefully, Carrick will be able to welcome either Paddy McNair or Dael Fry back into the side for next month’s play-off semi-final. Ideally, both players will be available. However, if they are not, Howson’s performance on Monday proves that Plan B is hardly a bad alternative.

“How did I do? Well, I was disappointed we conceded two goals,” said Howson, with characteristic candour. “It was alright, I think. I’ll leave it up to other people to decide how I did. But I felt fairly comfortable playing there.

“That’s not saying it was no trouble to go in there or anything, I think it’s more a reflection of how well the lads in front of us pressed and the way we all looked after the ball. I’ve obviously got Darragh alongside me, which is a massive help, and also Anfernee (Dijksteel) and Ryan (Giles) at full-back. They’re very experienced in those positions and know this league. I don’t think there were too many problems.”

Carrick agreed, and was always confident Howson would be able to take the positional switch in his stride. The Boro boss played centre-half himself on a handful of occasions when Manchester United were stretched under Sir Alex Ferguson, and so appreciates the challenges that a central midfielder must face when he is repositioned at the heart of a back four.

“Jonny had a little spell there the other night (in the latter stages of the win over Hull),” said Carrick. “And I think he has played there before – he certainly made it look as though he had.

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“He was terrific, especially against a team that make you defend your box like Luton do. They test you and make it difficult for you, but I thought Jonny was great and, as a team, we defended really well. Jonny was outstanding, and we needed that kind of performance from him – that leadership and calmness. He set the tone, but I could through the whole team to be honest.”

The most obviously-impressive aspect of Howson’s performance at Kenilworth Road was perhaps the easiest to anticipate. Whenever he had the ball at his feet, he was supremely poised in possession, calmly feeding passes into those in front of him and effortlessly side-stepping attempted challenges from Luton’s forwards.

There will always be a need for central defenders to win aerial challenges and position themselves correctly to prevent forwards peeling off them, but the days when a centre-half would be involved in a physical tussle from first whistle to last are largely long gone.

These days, central defenders have to be comfortable in possession and adept at building from the back, something that comes naturally to Howson, and the skipper admits the game has changed in terms of the demands that are placed on a centre-half.

Not only does he have his extensive midfield experience to fall back on, in Woodgate, he is also working under a coach who was one of the best English ball-playing centre-halves of the last three decades. Unsurprisingly, Woodgate was a huge help as Howson was preparing for his positional switch.

“I’ll be honest, if I’d been asked to play centre-half five or ten years ago, I probably wouldn’t have had the mindset for it,” said Howson. “I think I have now, and that probably just comes from age, experience and knowing and understanding the game a bit more.

“Centre-halves have probably changed a bit, and that probably helps in terms of slotting in there. The game is always evolving, and as a player, you have to be able to go along with that.

“What I would also say is that I’ve got Woody there, who was a world-class centre-half, an unbelievable player, and he’s there to guide me along the way. He teaches me and I try to learn from him.

“Even when I was playing right-back and a bit of centre-half under him, he remembers those things and tries to pass it on. When you’ve got good coaches and good ex-players giving you advice, like we’ve got, then that really helps.

“If you listen and take on board what they’re telling you, it’s surprising how far that can go and help you in games when you maybe have to play out of position.”