Michael Carrick wanted to focus on the positives despite Middlesbrough’s frustrating 1-1 draw against Preston at the Riverside.

Boro took an early lead when Tommy Conway opened the scoring in the 16th minute, before Preston midfielder Mads Frokaer-Jensen equalised just before half time.

“I think we should have won the game,” said Carrick. “We were in a good position to win the game and created enough opportunities to score more. We didn’t give a lot away again so there are a lot of good things in there that will benefit us over time.

“I said it to the boys, it’s about killing teams off when we’ve got them. We were 1-0 up and were in a good place to push for the next goal and be really positive. It probably drifted for five or ten minutes, we felt. It’s a different game second half when they have something to hold onto.

“Towards the end when teams go man for man and are there to stop us, we have to adapt and find ways of breaking them down. We tried and I thought there was a lot of good attitude and application, we just couldn’t quite find that extra pass at the end.”

Boro handed a debut to new signing George Edmundson, who arrived on loan from Ipswich on transfer deadline day, against Preston, while left-back Neto Borges made his home debut and new signing Ben Doak, who is on loan from Liverpool, came off the bench.

“It’s still early,” added Carrick, whose side have taken eight points from their opening five Championship fixtures. “It’s Neto’s first home game, George’s first game, Ben is on the pitch, Tommy hasn’t been here too long. There’s a freshness and settling in period so I’m not getting too frustrated. I think we are all taking the positives and potential of the group really and seeing the excitement of that.”

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