Like most on Teesside, Michael Carrick is delighted to see Tony Mowbray’s return to management.

In a script that the best writers in Hollywood would struggle to muster, the Middlesbrough legend is back in the dugout for the first time in over a year on Tuesday evening, after successfully battling bowel cancer. It just so happens his first game back in charge at West Brom happens to be against his beloved Boro.

Mowbray can expect a rousing Riverside reception on Tuesday evening from both home and away ends, given the level of adulation towards him from both supporters. However, once that whistle goes, it becomes two top-six rivals battling for three massive points, with little room for sentiment on either side.

READ MORE: Middlesbrough 'irony' for Tony Mowbray as he details cancer battle ahead of West Brom return

READ MORE: Michael Carrick addresses Seny Dieng's Middlesbrough future amid Tom Glover decision

“It's fantastic to see Tony healthy, well, back in the game, in a good job in a big role after the challenging months that he's had and his family have had to face and come through,” Carrick said, previewing the match. “I'm sure, has been tough and not easy to get to this point, but fantastic to see him back.

“It’ll be fantastic to see him again but, obviously, there's a whole different side to it in terms of we're trying to win a game. But aside from that, it's great to see him looking so well. His record tells you the level of manager and what he can get from teams and the level of success he's had over such a long period of time.

“It's a little bit difficult to predict in terms of Tony going in there and what kind of things he's going to change, and if he changes too much, we'll have to see. There's a little bit of calculated kind of guessing, if you like, from our point of view and using our experience and knowledge to try and gauge what that's going to look like from their point of view.

“That's the balance. Again, largely our focus is on ourselves. They're a good team, you know, really a lot of experience at this level and above within the team, so we know that they've done very similar things for a long period of time, so it's deeply ingrained.

“They know each other very, very well and Tony's obviously coming in to have his stand in that. So I expect a tough game; probably tight. Hopefully we can come out on top.”

Mowbray was appointed Baggies boss for the second time on Friday, replacing Carlos Corberan who left over Christmas to take over at Valencia. Mowbray took a watching brief on Saturday as his new side drew 1-1 with Stoke City. And with Boro losing to Portsmouth at the same time, the point was enough to ensure Mowbray took the reins at the Hawthorns with his new side in the top six after leapfrogging Boro.

Not downplaying the significance of this one then, with 19 games remaining in the Championship this season, Carrick continued: “It's a big game for us. We want to pick up more points. We should have had more points, but we need to pick up more points moving forward and it's the next opportunity in front of us.

“In terms of the playoffs, listen, it's a huge factor in the actual season itself right now, whether we move one position or two positions, it's not about that for me. It's about doing all the things we've done pretty well at times for periods in games.

“We need to do that for a lot longer and finish games off and be in a position where we're picking up more points. So it's a lot of focus on us doing more of the good things, really, and the results will come.

“Having said that, they're around us in the league and we know that. We appreciate that. These games can kind of have a bigger impact if you can manage to win the game. So surely that gives us that extra incentive to try and make it a good night.”

Boro supporters can be forgiven for heading to the Riverside with little optimism for the game - for many reasons. Mowbray has lost only four of the 15 games he’s managed against Boro. He’s certainly done plenty of scouting work this season too, having attended many Boro games while taking his break from the game. He was even set to join Carrick and co. at a Boro training session this month after an invitation, before the West Brom job came up.

With that in mind, Mowbray’s knowledge of Boro’s strengths and weaknesses will already be strong. Carrick’s side head into the game while suffering from a bit of a new-year funk, having won only one of their last seven. On top of that, they’ve struggled again on home turf this season, winning just six of their 14 games so far.

With many sides coming to the Riverside to sit deep and restrict space for Boro, Carrick said of combatting that: “We have to accept it. We feel we should have more points… shoulda, woulda, coulda. We’ve got to put the positives into getting more points moving forward. There is no hiding away from the fact, there are things we can do better and, however teams line up against us, we’ve got to deal with that.

“We’ve got to do better and we need more points, there is no shying away from that. We’ve scored plenty this season and we are capable of scoring goals. It’s easy to over-analyse as coaches and the trick really is finding the balance in terms of what to keep and what to tweak.

“The encouraging thing for me is we know we are capable of scoring goals. At times, the biggest disappointment is that we’ve put ourselves in good positions in games and not won. Games are 90 minutes and we’ve got to manage that whole cycle of a football match. We need to keep doing the good things we’re doing and then manage games and finish them off better. But I totally accept we need more points and we need to be better.”