Daniel Ayala feels former club Middlesbrough have come a long way under Michael Carrick as they meet at Ewood Park tonight, as highlighted to him by former defensive partner Darragh Lenihan.

Ayala has played in only one of Rovers’ five meetings with Boro since leaving the Riverside in 2020, but looks set to start in tonight’s fixture.

That will see him come up against the club he captained to promotion to the Premier League and made 216 appearances during a near seven-year stay.

Ayala played his 50th game for Rovers against Sunderland, a milestone appearance that ended in disappointing fashion as they were beaten 2-1 after Ellis Simms’ late goal.

Looking ahead to tonight’s game, the Spaniard expects a tough test against an improving Boro side, with Ayala's former defensive partner Lenihan speaking highly of the new boss.

He said: “I played there for a long time so it’s good to play against them, see some familiar faces which will be quite special.

“They play a lot with the ball, everyone knows Michael Carrick.

“I’ve spoken to Darragh (Lenihan) a few times and they like him, think he’s a good manager, and they’ll be really difficult.”

Rovers will be looking to do the double over Boro after a 2-1 win at the Riverside in October.

That would see them finish 2022 third in the Championship and help wipe away the disappointment of the Boxing Day defeat, one the 32-year-old felt owed much to Rovers’ inexperience.

He added: “There will be bumps along the way but you have to grind out some results and let’s see where we are at the end of the season.

“A lot of things come from experience and we’re a young side.

“When we were on top in the second half you could see a lot of people getting forward and we were hit on the counter-attack and we should have been a bit more solid, particularly away from home, but we wanted to win the game.

“Sometimes it works for you, sometimes it doesn’t.

“At 1-1 you want to go on and win the game but it’s important that you don’t lose it.”

It was the first time that Rovers had dropped points from a winning position, winning all 13 matches in which they have previously scored first.

That advantage came to them via an own goal, though that lasted only four minutes as Ross Stewart converted from the spot after a foul by John Buckley.

With the game in the balance, substitute Simms toe-poked home a late winner for the hosts as Rovers suffered an 11th reverse of the season.

“Really frustrating after scoring,” Ayala said, reflecting on the Stadium of Light defeat.

“To concede goals, particularly in injury time, is very frustrating.

“I think the equaliser came too quick. If we had hung on to the first goal a little goal longer it could have been different, but that was difficult to take.

“We have to dust ourselves off and go again on Thursday.

“There’s so many games you can’t think too much about the game before, you need to move on and that’s what we have to do.”

Ayala felt Rovers were second best in the first half, though improved after the break.

He told RoversTV: “The first half I thought they were better than us, but the second half I thought we were better, we kept the ball better.

“We didn’t create many chances, but had one big one for Tyler Morton, and I thought 1-1 would have been a fair result but that’s difficult to take.”

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