Michael Carrick admitted Middlesbrough’s bench made the difference after they came from a goal behind beat Millwall 3-1 at The Den in the Sky Bet Championship.

Carrick’s Boro were on a high after Tuesday’s 1-0 Carabao Cup semi-final first leg victory over Chelsea and rounded off an impressive week with victory over another London side.

Joe Bryan opened the scoring for the hosts before strikes from Lukas Engel, Isaiah Jones and substitute Marcus Forss turned things around.

Matt Crooks also came off the bench to have a positive impact in the second half.

Carrick said: “We knew it was going to be a challenge but we found our way the longer the game went, I’m delighted for the boys.

“We showed good spirit and quality and the bench made the difference for us, which we missed for a period of time.

“I thought the squad felt strong today and it can get stronger. We have a good group.

“Marcus (Forss) has worked hard for a period of time now and it’s a big goal for him and for us.”

Millwall struggled to replicate their dominant first half display and lost their way in the second 45.

Manager Joe Edwards highlighted his team’s injuries and agreed that Boro’s squad depth played a part on the day.

He added: “We felt that today (Boro’s depth). I’ve felt it in other games as well.

“I remember being stood down there when we were hanging on to a 1-0 lead against Norwich and when I saw the subs they were bringing on I thought ‘wow, that’s some impact and it will now get harder in the final 20 to 30 minutes.’

“That’s something I felt today.

“There’s a group of around seven of our players in their tracksuits today who are unable to play and that hurts us.”

Edwards struggled to hide his disappointment after the Lions failed to make it four successive league wins.

He said: “It’s disappointing. The goals they scored were soft and the bottom line is if you are playing a team at that level and dominate as much as we did in the first half an hour we needed to cash in and get that second goal.”

Middlesbrough conceded early but battled back strongly to win 3-1 win at Millwall in the Sky Bet Championship.

Michael Carrick’s Reds, who beat Premier League Chelsea in Tuesday’s Carabao Cup semi-final first leg, claimed another London scalp on Saturday.

Joe Bryan opened the scoring for the home side at The Den but goals from Lukas Engel, Isaiah Jones and Marcus Forss turned things around in favour of the Teessiders.

Millwall took a deserved 10th-minute lead, as the visitors cracked under early pressure.

Ryan Longman’s cross was cleared but only into the path of Bryan, who guided his effort into the bottom right corner from outside the box.

The Lions came close to doubling their lead five minutes later. Bryan turned creator and whipped a dangerous cross into the six-yard box, with centre-back Jake Cooper’s first-time effort clipping the bar.

Boro spent large parts of the first half on the back foot but they managed to break forward and equalise seven minutes before the interval.

Jones, whose positive form carried on after his impressive display against Chelsea, threaded a pass to Sam Greenwood. The on-loan Leeds player found the Engel with a low cross and the unmarked Dane levelled with a  close-range finish.

The visitors took the lead in the 58th minute after Bryan misjudged heading a high ball, with pacey former Tooting & Mitcham player Jones advancing and coolly finished past Matija Sarkic.

Millwall sought a way back into the game but failed to replicate their dominance of the early stages and played slow passes around the back, much to the frustration of animated manager Joe Edwards.

The visitors turned the screw and looked the most likely to score again.

Substitute Matt Crooks showed quick feet, turning his man in midfield before unleashing debutant Luke Ayling down the right.

The former Leeds right-back produced an excellent pass for Morgan Rogers,  who failed to connect properly.

However, the points were sealed in added time when Forss scored as the visitors moved into the top half.

Joe Bryan’s first goal for Millwall earned them a 2-2 draw in a frenetic Championship encounter with Hull at The Den.

After Jaden Philogene and Adama Traore had turned the game around for Hull following Duncan Watmore’s early opener, Bryan struck to secure a point.

The Lions’ home form has been patchy, winning just two of their last eight matches, but they took the lead through Watmore in the eighth minute.

Bryan’s free-kick was met with a miscued clearance by a City defender and the Lions attacker was able to squeeze his shot past Ryan Allsop at his near post to open his account for the campaign.

The Lions had started confidently and Luton loanee Allan Campbell drove into the side-netting soon after.

But that assured start only lasted until the 25th minute. Millwall were unpicked by one pinpoint long ball by Hull centre-back Sean McLoughlin, Philogene timed his run perfectly to get in behind the hosts’ centre-back pairing of Jake Cooper and Wes Harding and threaded his finish beyond Bartosz Bialkowski.

The visitors then looked a threat with nearly every attack they mounted. Bialkowski scrambled the ball around the upright when Liam Delap’s cross deflected off Cooper.

Another defensive lapse saw Hull take a 30th-minute lead. Danny McNamara’s misplaced header back to Bialkowski was seized on by Philogene, the young Tigers winger deftly cut back inside the Millwall full-back and cued up Traore to gleefully lash in from close range.

It could have got worse for the Lions before the break. Scott Twine went close with a free-kick and then could not quite make contact with Delap’s delivery.

Lions boss Gary Rowett reacted by switching to a back five and made a double change with Tom Bradshaw and Brooke Norton-Cuffy replacing Watmore and McNamara.

A Casper De Norre strike was tipped over by Allsop but the summer signing from OH Leuven then assisted Bryan for the 54th-minute leveller, with the former Fulham and Bristol City left-back showing great composure to cut inside a marker and send a low drive past Allsop.

The second period belonged to Millwall as they pressed for a winner, Bradshaw saw his header from a Bryan free-kick fly narrowly past the far post.

There was a big chance in stoppage time as two Lions substitutes combined. Romaine Esse put Aidomo Emakhu through but the Republic of Ireland U21 international thrashed his effort over from inside the penalty area.

Hull, who had been unbeaten in eight league games before their midweek loss to Ipswich, looked happy to settle for a point.