Middlesbrough have booked their place in the second round of the League Cup.
Michael Carrick took his Boro side to Elland Road on Wednesday evening for a cup tie with Leeds United.
Middlesbrough have previously struggled against their local rivals, especially when playing away from home.
The Teessiders had not beaten Leeds in any competition since 2018 prior to this week and once again looked set to struggle on Wednesday.
Daniel Farke’s side dominated the opening exchanges, putting a new-look Boro defence under a lot of pressure.
However, Middlesbrough had a few chances of their own in the first half and were able to go in at the break with the score still level at 0-0.
The second 45 was a completely different story, however, with Carrick’s men tearing the Peacocks apart.
Anfernee Dijksteel opened the scoring in the 50th minute before Delano Burgzorg added a second 10 minutes later.
The game was killed off in the 67th minute when Millwall-linked Josh Coburn tapped in a deflection, seeing Middlesbrough beat Leeds 3-0.
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Dijksteel won the Man of the Match award post-game and potentially scored Boro’s goal of the season.
The 27-year-old was a serious threat down the right, bombing forward to cause Leeds all sorts of problems.
Despite struggling for minutes over the last couple of years, Dijksteel has given Carrick a selection headache going into Middlesbrough’s meeting with Derby County following his display on Wednesday.
It was one of his best in a Boro shirt and Luke Ayling now has some heavy competition at right-back.
Ayling had previously been largely unchallenged for his starting berth in Middlesbrough’s back four as Tommy Smith has been sidelined for close to a year.
The 32-year-old played just six Championship games in 2023/24 and once again missed out this week.
However, the right-back still watched on from home, taking to Instagram to pen a brief six-word message to his teammates on his personal story post-match.
He wrote: “Pleasure to watch. Love it lads.”
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After making five new first-team signings this summer, Carrick is well-stocked across the majority of the pitch.
However, with Smith expected back in the near future and Dijksteel stacking a claim to start featuring regularly again, Boro might have too many right-back options this season.
Middlesbrough only really need to keep two of their current options, with Ayling guaranteed to stay as he joined on a free this summer.
Previously, it seemed likely that Middlesbrough would sell Dijksteel this summer, but his showing against Leeds could change that.
Smith also remains an important figure in the North East despite his hiatus, playing a key role in the 2022/23 season when Boro finished fourth.