Middlesbrough boss Michael Carrick has backed summer signing Emmanuel Latte Lath to continue finding the net after scoring in the 2-0 win over Cardiff.
Since signing from Atalanta in the summer for a fee believed to be around £4million, the Ivorian has been in and out of the side and this was only his second Championship goal.
But the substitute’s cool finish with six minutes remaining put the finishing touches to Boro’s third league win in a row to climb up to 16th, leaving them five points shy of a play-off place.
And Carrick, who watched Latte Lath find the net in the Carabao Cup win at Bradford a week ago, said: “Emmanuel, that’s two in two for him and we know he has goals in him.
“Between him and Josh Coburn we have very different number nines. Josh did a lot of good things and then Emmanuel came on and had a big impact on the game.
“I’m really pleased, overall there were a lot of good things in the game. We had to make changes for different reasons before the game and we improved as the game went on.
“We managed the game really well second half, the boys came off the bench and made an impact.
“We could sense the frustration in the stadium first half and that doesn’t really help the players, but they stuck to it, believed in what we were doing.
“Cardiff were always going to make it difficult and they were on a good run, we knew it would be a tough game. The boys were calm enough and I felt the improvement during the game.”
Cardiff boss Erol Bulut was angered by Isaiah Jones’ 56th-minute opener because he claimed the winger was standing in an offside position when Danish full-back Lukas Engel crossed to him.
That arrived at a time when both teams struggled to create openings and the game could have gone either way.
Once Latte Lath had slotted in the second there was no way back for Cardiff, whose four-match winning run in the league came to an end.
Bulut, whose side slipped out of the top six with this defeat, said: “For both teams in the first half it was a tactical game.
“The second half we showed tiredness from the travelling from the last games, and also today we had to change a few positions because of injuries. This is not an excuse.
“But I can say tiredness was a little bit (apparent) second half. The first goal changed the game, and if you watch the first goal it was a clear offside.
“After the first goal we had to push more to score. We couldn’t manage to score. In the first half we had that Karlan Grant chance, if that goes in it would have been much different.
“We have to keep our feet on the ground regardless. This loss is not the end of the world. We will have a good rest and 100 per cent we have to be on the field again.”
