IN the immediate aftermath of Tuesday’s Carabao Cup semi-final win over Chelsea, the thoughts of pretty much everyone in the Riverside Stadium will have been focused on a forthcoming trip to London. Safe to say, though, this afternoon’s game at Millwall will hardly have been at their forefront of their mind.

Having moved to within 90 minutes of Wembley with this week’s first-leg success on Teesside, how can you stop yourself thinking ahead to the return game at Stamford Bridge on January 23?

Easily, according to Michael Carrick, although the proof of that statement will only become apparent when his Middlesbrough players enter the Lions’ Den to face Millwall later today. If even a fraction of their focus is distracted by thoughts of Chelsea, they will be in for a tough afternoon.

“That’s the challenge,” said the Boro boss, whose side currently sit 12th in the Championship table, four points adrift of the play-off positions. “It’s a great challenge for us, and we’ll be ready.

“The boys have moved on from it already and trained really well. The game in the week has gone now – we’ve got Millwall at the weekend and then another game next Saturday (at home to Rotherham) before Chelsea. We can put it to bed for a bit now.

“It’s done, and when we came back into the training ground, we were quickly focused on what’s next. The players know it’s all about Saturday now because it’s a huge challenge. Millwall are in good form and playing well, and we know we’re going to have to be right at our best to get the result that we want.”

As a player at Manchester United, Carrick had to become adept at rapidly moving on from one big game to another. He also learned how to shut off thoughts of a second-leg game before it rolled around, so while being halfway through a two-legged semi-final might be a new experience for pretty much every member of Boro’s playing squad, it is par for the course for their head coach.

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“We have to be 100 per cent right,” he explained. “The next one is always the most important one, and I’ve stressed that as much as I possibly can. It’s pretty clear that Tuesday was a high, so to prepare yourself after that and regroup is a skill in itself, not everybody can do it.

“It’s not always easy – sometimes you try, but some people can get carried away with the emotion of it all. It’s important that we’re in the right state of mind because it’s one of those games that you have to be ready for.”

While Boro have won all six of their matches in the Carabao Cup so far this season, their league form has been much more inconsistent.

Since the middle of October, they have only recorded back-to-back league victories once, and having slipped up in their last Championship outing at home to Coventry City on New Year’s Day, Carrick accepts his players need to improve their league form if they are to remain at the heart of the play-off mix.

“I’ve been saying for a bit that consistency is key,” he said. “We know what we’re capable of doing. We’ve shown it again this week, and we’ve shown it over a period of time.

“We know what we can do, but it’s about putting it together on a consistent basis. There’s challenges with that, of course there is, in terms of injuries and suspensions and things you have to deal with. But if we can become consistent, then I think we’ll have a great chance.”

And while dreams of Wembley might be coursing through the minds of the fans, Carrick acknowledges that the league must remain the priority for him and his players.

“There’s so much to play for,” he said. “There’s a huge opportunity in front of us to try to achieve something, both in the cup and the league. We’ve had a mini-season break in the league in terms of playing two cup games, now it’s about getting back into the thick of it.”