Michael Carrick maintained his usual, calm one-game-at-a-time message as he and Scott Parker offered their views in the Championship promotion race.

The former England team-mates opposed one another on Friday evening in a match between promotion rivals Burnley and Boro that ended in a stalemate. It left Parker's Clarets six points above Carrick's Boro, but was generally considered a good point for the visitors in extreme weather conditions.

With both sides well-fancied to be top-six contenders this season, the subject of the Championship promotion race was a topic of conversation with both managers after the game. With the campaign closing in on its halfway mark, neither side has yet pulled away in the race to get to the Premier League, with only 12 points separating top from ninth.

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Asked for his thoughts on the promotion race, Boro boss Carrick said: “It’s hard to tell. There are a number of good teams on a similar level really, it’s about who can put results together over a number of games. There are a lot of teams capable of doing that. It’s quite tight at the moment because it’s still so early. There’s still a lot to get through. For us, we just take each step one at a time. We’re doing okay at the moment. It’s pretty close.”

The last two Championship campaigns have seen standout winners in Vincent Kompany's Burnley and Leicester City last term. But having won promotion from the division twice previously, Parker agreed with Carrick and says wider history shows that tight races right to the last hurdle are more common.

“I see it as nip and tuck for the rest of the way," Parker said. "I’ve been in this division twice previously and that was the case on both occasions then as well. It’s a competitive league, a relentless league. It will be the team that is most consistent that gets there in the end.

"Normally throughout the course of a Championship it’s nip and tuck. There are maybe the odd seasons where one team really pulls away, but usually it’s nip and tuck. The season won’t be decided tonight or in three or four weeks. It will be the end and who lasts the longest really. At this current time we’re in a good position."