Middlesbrough end season on a high - with one major stand-out positive

READY for a break? Emmanuel Latte Lath certainly won’t be. How gutted Middlesbrough’s striker must feel that the season ends here. August can’t come soon enough for the Ivorian marksman, who continued his blistering recent form with yet another goal against Watford.

The same can be said of Boro in general, who have finished a season that started with such difficulty in hugely impressive fashion. The 3-1 Watford victory - meaning Carrick's side lost just one of their last 12 games - secured an eighth place finish for Boro, just four points adrift of the top six.

The aim will be to finish a couple of places higher at the very least next term and Carrick and co won’t be short of positives as they move into the summer months. And top of the list of plus points will undoubtedly be the form and potential of Latte Lath. He moved onto 16 league goals and 18 in all competitions with his strike against Watford.

But it wasn’t just his goal that excited against the Hornets. It was a display full of running and confidence. He hassled defenders, chased lost causes and could have had more than one goal.

Latte Lath's clinical first half strike was his 11th in 12 outings and for much of Saturday’s game against the Hornets looked set to send Boro into the summer on a high. That was until Wesley Hoedt equalised with 17 minutes to play – only for Boro to respond almost immediately through two substitutes, Sam Greenwood teeing up Alex Bangura, who slotted home. And Isaiah Jones hammered in the third goal to wrap up a deserved victory six minutes later.

This was by no means just the Latte Lath show. Luke Ayling deserves just as much credit for a superb finish to what has been a hugely impressive loan spell. His two assists – for Latte Lath and Jones – took his tally to eight in 11 games.

Alex Gilbert again caught the eye, Law McCabe enjoyed a polished first start and Jonny Howson celebrated his new contract with a typically classy and robust midfield showing. And capping off a positive final day, teenager James Wilson came off the bench to make his debut less than 24 hours after signing his first pro deal with the club.

Watford were difficult opponents to judge. The Hornets headed for the Riverside with only one win in their last eight but only two defeats in 12. They beat Sunderland last week and were first to threaten at the Riverside, Vakoun Bayo forcing a tidy save out of Seny Dieng after meeting Ken Sema’s cross.

That sparked Boro into life and the hosts spent the next half hour on the front foot. Latte Lath was alive to the prospect of any sniff of a chance and darted behind the Watford defence and in on goal, only for Hoedt to somehow keep pace and make a superb last ditch sliding tackle. The striker made a rare mistake when he delayed a pass instead of teeing up the unmarked Alex Gilbert, but he soon made amends sweeping home Ayling’s cross.

How Tom Cleverley – or any Championship boss for that matter – would love to have a striker as lethal at Latte Lath is right now. Watford’s No.9 Mileta Rajovic has scored just two in 20 games and spurned a good chance to level immediately when he blazed over from close range.

In fairness to Watford, they responded pretty well to falling behind and got themselves into promising positions on a couple of occasions, but Boro’s half-time lead was fully deserved.

It would have been wiped out shortly after the restart had it not been for the brilliance of Gilbert. The forward raced back and made a superb last-ditch goal-saving tackle to deny Bayo. Gilbert then came close to extending Boro’s lead, curling over from just outside the box.

It was an end-to-end start to the second half. Luke Thomas should have scored at one end then Matt Clarke stopped Watford scoring at the other.

Clarke almost added to his Cardiff goal last week with another when he met a cross from Dan Barlaser – one of four second half substitutes – and headed just wide.

Boro looked relatively comfortable but 17 minutes from time, the visitors levelled, Hoedt meeting a corner from Yader Asprilla and glancing a header that nestled in the bottom corner.

But that sparked a reaction from Boro. Greenwood wriggled into space and cut back for Bangura, before Azaz and Ayling combined to set Jones up for the third goal that secured a deserved victory.