MICHAEL Carrick hoped the dramatic midweek victory over Hull City would act as a springboard for Middlesbrough, and when Emmanuel Latte Lath fired them into an early lead against Cardiff that looked like being the case.

But it turned into another frustrating Riverside afternoon for Boro, who were pegged back by the lowly visitors and then stifled, the outcome a third successive home draw.

Cardiff had less than 25% of the possession but Boro only managed one more shot than the visitors, which sums up the afternoon for Carrick’s side who had control but lacked ideas, quality and pace in the final third after Calum Chambers had levelled at the midway stage of the first half.

For ex-Boro loanee Chambers, it was a first goal in 34 months. For Latte Lath, it was a 10th of the season and assisted by Ben Doak, who was Boro’s brightest player throughout and, on the back of Crystal Palace and Ipswich’s failed bids for the winger on Friday, a reminder of how important he is to Carrick’s side and how much of a blow it would be to lose him this month.

But even Doak was contained in the second half as Cardiff did a job on Boro, who were too ponderous and predictable in attack. Boro have lost just one of their last eight but will have seen this as a glorious opportunity to build some much-needed winning momentum after Hull.

Cardiff headed for the Riverside with only one win in their last 11 games but they were buoyed by picking up four points from their last two outings. And it was the Bluebirds who threatened first, when Ollie Tanner’s curling goalbound effort was superbly tipped around the post by Tom Glover.

Cardiff will have done their homework on Doak but knowing what he’s going to do and stopping him are two completely different things. The winger only had one thing on his mind when he picked up the ball on the right, skipped past Callum O’Dowda with ease and crossed for Latte Lath to finish expertly at the front post.

But the visitors were level within 10 minutes, a poor leveller from Boro’s perspective. They failed to deal with a cross from the right, with Dael Fry prodding it only as far as Chambers on the edge of the box, who curled into the top corner.

Despite drawing level, Cardiff couldn’t deal with Doak. And left-back O’Dowda faced the daunting prospect of playing for an hour on a yellow card against him after being cautioned for pulling down the winger.

The visitors appeared fortunate to not have another defender in the book when Dimitrios Goutas looked to have fouled Burgzorg as the forward looked to latch on to a fine Barlaser through-ball, but referee Tom Nield waved away the claims, to the fury of Carrick.

Boro dominated the ball – they had more than 70% of the possession in the first half – but struggled to create any clear cut chances to get themselves back in front. At times after the leveller they were too ponderous in possession, a problem in the first half at Hull.

The second half started as the first had finished, with Boro dominating the ball but lacking intensity and ideas in the final third. Other than a couple of routine gathers, Jak Alnwick didn’t have a save to make until he kept out a Latte Lath header with 15 minutes to play.

That came after Carrick had turned to his best in the hope of a repeat after the substitutes had sparked improvement at Hull. Isaiah Jones replaced Delano Burgzorg and Doak, who had been contained after the break, was shifted from right to left. The switch almost paid off when the winger darted down the left only to see his low cross deflected just wide of his own goal by Dimitrios Goutas. Jones then crossed for Latte Lath’s chance.

Alex Gilbert was introduced but there was no repeat of his Hull heroics and Boro had to settle for a point.