HAYDEN Hackney is delighted to have reunited with Aidan Morris in Middlesbrough's midfield.

Morris returned to the starting XI for the first time in two months for Tuesday night's Riverside success against West Brom, and made an instant impact, shining as Boro recorded a much-needed victory to climb back into the Championship's top six.

Morris was a huge hit in the early months of the season after his summer arrival from Columbus Crew but he was sidelined after suffering a knee injury while away on international duty in November.

Now he's back, not only will Boro benefit from the qualities of the 23-year-old, who adds steel and bite to the midfield, but he also brings the best out of others around him, including Hackney, who has played his best football this season when he's had Morris for company,

"We just have that connection," admitted Hackney after Tuesday's win.

"You could see today, how good he was winning them duels. He regains the ball so much. I really enjoy playing with him.

"I would say it allows me more freedom. You could see tonight how he likes to drop in between the two centre-backs to build up play and I think he does that well. That gives me that little bit more freedom to get higher up the pitch.

"He seems to like that deeper role where he can dictate the play more. That allows me to get up near Finn and near Manu and try and get the ball up to them as fast as possible.

"I really enjoy playing with him and I think it can definitely grow further. I don’t know how many games I’ve actually even played with him because obviously he’s been out injured.

"We started off reasonably well, I thought, and it was nice to be back on the pitch with him again. We’re close off the pitch now as well - all the lads are, to be fair. Me and Aidan are obviously a similar age which helps. It’s nice to play with him.”

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The West Brom success brought an end to a worrying run of just one win in seven games in all competitions for Michael Carrick's side, who had dropped out of the top six after the weekend defeat at Portsmouth.

Boro had also failed to win any of their last four home games prior to Albion's visit. And Hackney admits Boro's players were aware of the need for three points on Tuesday.

He said: “We knew it was a big game. We didn’t really talk about it, but we knew with recent results that this was a big game.

"Obviously there’s been frustration in the dressing room of late. We weren’t dwelling on it too much, but everyone knew. We were concentrated and making sure we were ready for the game though.

"We went over the Portsmouth game and the things we had to work on. The gaffer showed us that, we took it into this one, and I think we did what he asked. We hope this can spark a good run now. That’s the aim now. We should kick on from this and use a win against a good team as motivation."