Middlesbrough welcomed Stoke City to the Riverside Stadium for a Championship meeting on Saturday.
Michael Carrick will have been desperate for his Boro side to get their season back on track against the Potters.
Middlesbrough lost 1-0 to Sunderland in their previous Championship fixture, leaving them on a run of just two wins from six.
Stoke, meanwhile, were aiming to turn their campaign around after sacking their manager earlier this month.
Middlesbrough were predicted to beat Stoke ahead of kick-off at the Riverside Stadium but a tough outing was expected nonetheless.
The pair had already met once this season prior to Saturday’s game, facing off in the second round of the Carabao Cup.
Stoke beat Middlesbrough 5-0 in that game – a result the Teessiders simply had to avoid this time around in order to keep their promotion hopes somewhat alive.
When all was said and done in the North East, Boro managed to come away with a much-needed victory.
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Ben Doak was ‘dangerous’ for Middlesbrough vs Stoke City
Carrick made a number of changes to his starting line-up on Saturday, two of which were enforced.
Anfernee Dijksteel came back into the defence in place of Matt Clarke, who missed the tie due to injury.
Riley McGree was handed his first start since his return from the sidelines as well, coming into the team ahead of Tommy Conway, who himself has now picked up a knock.
McGree started on the left wing, allowing Finn Azaz to move back into his more natural number 10 role.
The only change not enforced saw Isaiah Jones dropped and Liverpool loanee Ben Doak given his first start for the Teessiders.
It did not take long for Doak to make his mark, with the 18-year-old opening the scoring after just 34 minutes of action.
Following his goal, journalist Dominic Shaw took to X/Twitter to label the youngster ‘dangerous’, while also calling him impressing in his coverage of the match for the Northern Echo.
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Ben Doak has already become undroppable for Middlesbrough
There is no question that Doak was one of, if not the best Boro player on the pitch against Stoke.
Doak made his Middlesbrough debut versus Preston North End and looked sharp in his first two outings off the bench.
Now though, after excelling on his first start for the club, it is already clear that the Scotsman has become undroppable for Carrick.
Jones has been ‘wasteful’ for Middlesbrough when starting on the right wing so far this season.
The 25-year-old lacks any sort of end product and has cost the North East outfit goals at both ends of the pitch already this term – gifting Derby County a goal last month and wasting so many chances against the likes of Sunderland and Preston.
And with Doak already doing more in one game than Jones has done all season, it is clear the Liverpool gem has to start every game going forward.