MICHAEL CARRICK is confident there is lots more to come from Law McCabe after the teenager made his first senior start at the weekend.

McCabe played for the opening 72 minutes of Middlesbrough’s 3-1 win over Watford to cap a memorable week that also saw him named Academy Scholar of the Year at the club’s Player of the Year awards.

The Middlesbrough-born 17-year-old played alongside Jonny Howson at the heart of midfield as Boro won their final game of the season, and looked perfectly at home on the Championship stage.

He had previously made three substitute appearances in the senior ranks, and while Carrick is understandably reluctant to place too much pressure on the youngster’s shoulders, he is expecting him to make further advances next season.

“It was fantastic for Law,” said the Boro boss. “He’s such a down to earth lad. He’s learning all the time, and we’ve had him quite a lot with us this season for long spells. How he played is what we’ve seen in training every day.

“We’ve been trying to manage him right in terms of his training time and also game time. We felt this was the right time for him and he proved that right with how he coped with it. He had so much composure and his natural talent was on show.

“There will be so much more to come from him once he gets a few more games under his belt. I was delighted for him, it was the natural next step for him.”

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The last homegrown central-midfielder to establish themselves in Boro’s starting line-up was Hayden Hackney. Again, Carrick does not want to get ahead of himself when it comes to talking up McCabe’s potential, but he does see parallels between the youngster and the player he could find himself trying to emulate next term.

“He’s similar to Hayden in his attitude, without taking those comparisons any further, because that wouldn’t be fair,” he said. “But for sure, in the way he is desperate to learn and desperate to fit into the group.

“I think a lot for me that tells you where a young player is at is when the first-team group trust you. As a young player, that is a massive thing to conquer. He’s done that and you could see it in the game - how much the boys were looking out for him and helping him - not that he needed it much. That speaks volumes of, forget his football, just the type of person he is around the group.”

On a landmark day for Boro’s youngsters at the weekend, Carrick also handed James Wilson a senior debut, with the Hurworth defender replacing Luke Ayling off the substitutes’ bench in the final few minutes.

“Getting James on the pitch towards the end was fantastic,” said Carrick. “He has a lot of potential, but we have to be patient and manage him a lot. He’s still growing and is still finding his body.

“But, for me personally, I take a lot of pleasure in giving those opportunities. They’ve got to be good enough and earn it. The boys certainly have, and that will send them into the summer in good spirits.”