MICHAEL Carrick said he was "really proud" of Middlesbrough's players after the 1-1 draw at Sheffield Wednesday and revealed that he had a "good feeling" at half-time despite his side's struggle in the opening period at Hillsborough.

Boro were poor in the first half, failing to muster a shot on target against the winless Owls and trailed to Anthony Musaba's goal at the break.

But Carrick insists there were no raised voices in the Boro dressing room at half-time and although disappointed with the first half showing, the head coach says he "understood what the players were going through".

He says he sensed a positivity and belief from his players during the interval and was proud of they way they performed in the second half. Darragh Lenihan salvaged a point for Boro but Carrick was frustrated to not take all three.

He said: "It was a game of two halves. The first half, in some ways I can feel for the players, when things aren't clicking or coming easy for you, it's easy to second guess things. Maybe an element of doubt creeping in.

"It's up to us to help release that. Again, going behind kick-started us and gave us that freedom to chase the game down and then we show what we're capable of.

"There are two sides to it, really encouraged because we know performances are in there and what we're capable of, but we can't keep giving ourselves too much to do.

"It's frustrating but I have to say I'm hugely proud of the players for that second half. It's not an easy place to be that dressing room at half-time, when you're down and you have a run like you have. To come out and face the music and bounce back and show like they did, I'm really proud of them."

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Asked what he said to his players at half-time, Carrick said: "I was calm. I understand what the players were going through and you could see, giving the ball away at time which the boys don't do.

"It's very different if they're intentionally trying to do the right things to someone who is not putting the effort in or blatantly not doing what you ask them. That's definitely not the case. It wasn't the case first half, it was just that little bit of second guessing. Not having confidence or belief where it's clicking and you trust yourself.

"In the second half we did that, stopped thinking about it and just went and played because we knew we had to chase the game down.

"At half-time I had real confidence in the players to go out there and have a good second half. They responded really well, there was a good feeling in there. They were disappointed with how it went, we all were, but I understood how they were feeling.

"Before we left the changing room I had a good feeling. We were all in it and you can see that from the second half performance.

"I'm 100% (frustrated not to win), but I have to be realistic. The position we were in first half and building on that, you have to be realistic but I know what we're capable of."

Despite Carrick taking encouragement from the second half showing, Boro remain winless after seven games.

"When you say desperate, desperate can be dangerous if you go chasing things and you tense up and you're anxious," he said.

"Maybe the boys were so desperate and over-trying and tensed up in the first half. Second half, we went out and played.

"We're doing everything we can but we're not down, definitely not down, the belief is there 100%."