Derby County revolved around Wayne Rooney as Neil Warnock's improving Middlesbrough bounce back from Norwich low

Neil Warnock was back to his jovial best on Wednesday night.

The Middlesbrough manager admitted he couldn’t sleep following Saturday’s 1-0 defeat by Norwich, it was understandable given Boro had been the better side for large spells and failed to score a second-half penalty.

Warnock was visibly stung following what he felt was an unjust result and subsequently vented his frustration at referee Tony Harrington.

Losing to a Norwich side which are top of the Championship and widely fancied to win promotion is nothing to be ashamed of, yet Warnock knows what his side are capable of.

A 3-0 win over a struggling Derby outfit was evidence of that, a result which moved Boro up to seventh in the division ahead of Saturday’s trip to Huddersfield.

The Teessiders have now kept seven clean sheets in their last nine games and have conceded just six league goals in 13 games.

Against Derby, Warnock’s men also packed a punch at the other end, with captain Britt Assombalonga scoring his second goal of the season and Marvin Johnson coming off the bench to add an impressive third, after Matt Clarke’s own goal.

Derby, who are being managed by a temporary four-man coaching team led by Wayne Rooney and Liam Rosenior, may be bottom of the Championship but are clearly performing below their sum of parts.

The contest was a fairly even one before Assombalonga’s opener on 33 minutes, with Boro a little reluctant to press high up the pitch and content to concede possession.

Yet once the Teessiders had broken the deadlock, aside from a Louie Sibley effort shortly after half-time, there only looked like being one winner.

While Derby’s side appeared to revolve around captain and coach Rooney, Boro looked like a well-drilled team which was balanced and able to adapt.

Rooney started in a deep-lying midfield role before switching to a false nine position in the second half, yet Boro were always one step ahead.

After starting the season playing with a back three, Warnock now has more confidence in his defence to start games in a 4-2-3-1 formation.

Dael Fry and Paddy McNair look like an established centre-back partnership who complement each other well, while Anfernee Dijksteel and Marc Bola are players transformed in the full-back positions.

In front of them Jonny Howson and George Saville have formed a midfield axis which resembles that of Grant Leadbitter and Adam Clayton during Boro’s 2015/16 promotion-winning campaign.

The Teessiders’ man-to-man marking system doesn’t allow teams many opportunities to work the ball into advanced areas and Boro have conceded just one league goal from open play this term

Yet the thing which will please Warnock most is the goals his side scored and the threat they posed.

Duncan Watmore came into the side to make his debut while Patrick Roberts was also recalled to the starting XI.

Both tired and were replaced in the second half but asked questions of Derby’s backline, with Watmore providing the assist for Assombalonga’s opener.

Their replacements, Johnson and Djed Spence, also made an impact off the bench, capping off an all-round team performance.

Warnock was in a much better mood after the game. He knows what this improving team is capable of.

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