LIAM Rosenior insists he still believes Middlesbrough will have a big part to play in the Championship promotion race and says Michael Carrick's side are capable of going on a charge in the second half of the season.

Rosenior says Carrick is doing an "outstanding job" at the Riverside and believes Boro will get better as the season goes on.

But he rubbed salt into Boro wounds by admitting his Hull City side were as bad as they've been "in a long, long time" at the first half at the Riverside - only to make the home side pay for failing to take advantage and hitting two second half goals to pick up all three points.

Rosenior has always been complimentary of Carrick's side and was asked what gave him the confidence to say Boro - who slipped into the bottom half of the Championship table after their fourth defeat in five games - can still get themselves in promotion contention.

He said: “The process that they work to and the processes that Michael has put in place. Analysing them for this game, I think they’re a very difficult game to press. We got the press wrong in the first half and Boro were the better team. I wanted to go man-to-man because it’s hard to cover the spaces that they occupy.

"What I would say is, look at the processes that Michael is doing. I think he’s doing an outstanding job. I think when you lose the players of the quality that they lost last year and bring a new group in, it takes time. Nobody in the Championship is too far away from the top six and that is the beauty of it. If you stay stable and have a clear identity, which Middlesbrough do, you can go on really good runs.”

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Hull were booed off at the break by their travelling fans but come full-time were celebrating in front of the away end after goals from Liam Delap and Ozan Tufan completed the unlikely turnaround.

"That first-half performance was probably the worst we've played in a long, long time," said Rosenior.

“It certainly felt better at the end than it did at half time. We wanted to see a reaction but I think first half our confidence was dented in conceding an early goal away from home against what I feel is a very good team.

"It was always going to be difficult to come back from that but I said to the boys at half-time, ‘this isn’t about football or tactics or anything like that. This is about character and passion and resilience’.

"The thing that summed it up for me and made me so proud was that moment at the end. I see the whole team trying to stop the ball going in our net, and then I see our whole team celebrating with each other, it shows how much it meant to them. In the Championship you always have to find different ways to win, and that was a huge step for us tonight.”