Alex Gilbert stakes his claim as Middlesbrough selection decisions potentially say a lot

Middlesbrough's final away game of the season saw them claim a brilliant 4-1 victory away at Cardiff City to guarantee themselves a top ten finish this season.

While it won't be the top-six finish they had initially hoped for, Boro are at least emerging from a challenging campaign in really high spirits, offering plenty of hope for the future. In beating Cardiff in such a manner with so little at stake, the Boro players adhered to Michael Carrick's request to show their self-drive and motivation to succeed.

With one game remaining this season and now plenty of focus on the future, here are the main talking points and conclusions emerging from the victory over Cardiff City in South Wales.

READ MORE: Middlesbrough's real optimism for next season with Michael Carrick growing one key ingredient

Alex Gilbert really stakes his claim

Having made impacts from the bench in recent games against Southampton and Leeds United in particular, Alex Gilbert was handed his first Boro start, and he most certainly took it. The 22-year-old forward has found game time so hard to come by this season, but left South Wales with his first Boro goal and played a crucial role in Finn Azaz's goal too, in an excellent display to stake his claim.

His goal was a superb finish - emphatically striking the ball first time from the edge of the box after Luke Ayling's cutback. Considering Gilbert has played so little football, to execute it with such confidence was a really encouraging sign.

His assist, if it goes down as such, rather typified his performance overall. Hungry to impress, he was bright and full of endeavour throughout, showing real confidence, positivity and quality in possession as he looked to make things happen throughout, even in a rather dull first-half that failed to catch fire. There was slight fortune that the ball found Azaz to score, but it ultimately came from Gilbert's quick feet and positive thinking in such a congested area.

This was Gilbert's big chance and he certainly took it. He's spent much of the season right down the pecking order but Carrick spoke about how much he deserved this opportunity at this time. While Sammy Silvera has also had opportunities of late and shown plenty of positivity, what he's ultimately lacked is quality in the end product.

Gilbert provided that in his outing and, likely to start again against Watford next weekend, has a chance to potentially move himself up the pecking order for the start of pre-season, if he can replicate his performance in this one. Previously expected to spend next season out on loan, there was so much to like about his performance in this one to suggest he could offer Boro a lot more next season.

Selection decisions potentially tell us a lot about the future

Carrick's selection decisions were interesting at Cardiff, and might provide some hints at the club's future decisions. While loanee Luke Ayling came straight back into the side, again suggesting Anfernee Dijskteel has little future at the club, fellow Leeds man Sam Greenwood remained an unused sub on his return.

Also interesting was the decision to bring Dan Barlaser back into the starting line-up at the expense of Nottingham Forest loan man Lewis O'Brien. Barlaser justified that with a really good performance too. O'Brien has been excellent of late having returned from such a serious, long-term injury, and would surely be an excellent signing for the club. However, with doubts over Forest's stance and also the finances of a potential deal, Carrick was potentially thinking about next season in bringing Barlaser back in.

The one anomaly to that theory was Luke Thomas' start at left-back. He's almost certain to leave at the end of the season. But with Lukas Engel still not with the squad after missing Monday's game due to personal reasons, and with Alex Bangura seemingly deemed not fit enough to start having only made one short cameo appearance since returning from injury, that perhaps explains why a similar stance wasn't taken at left-back.

Perhaps Latte Lath's best goal yet

Latte Lath's incredible form continued as he moved to 16 goals for the season, and ten in his last 11 games. In truth, ranking them from best to worst is a fruitless exercise because they all count - but there's an argument his goal at Cardiff might have been his best one yet.

A brilliant ball over the top from Azaz - as he really excelled throughout - Latte Lath still had so much to do while running away from the final two Bluebirds defenders. He showed incredible composure and highlighted just how much belief he has to finish the chance off.

Initially running ahead of the ball as the first bounce didn't quite run on as much as expected, Latte Lath had to adjust to head the ball down in front of him. That allowed his marker to get back on top of him and, running at such pace, when his next touch off the knee didn't quite take the ball far enough in front of him, Latte Lath had to show real composure to take one more touch, this time creating the space between himself and the ball to then smash the ball beyond a helpless goalkeeper. Brilliant.

Good end to a positive campaign on the road

Boro's last away game of the season, this was their tenth win on the road this season which means in the Championship away table they are guaranteed to finish sixth. Currently two goals ahead of Leicester City who are away on the final day and the only side who could realistically catch that record, they are currently the top scorers away from home this season with 41 too.

That ultimately means little in the grand scheme because it's added to the home record, which for Boro hasn't been good enough this season. With one final game at the Riverside remaining, they're currently 16th in that table. It highlights where Boro's improvements have to come next season - with their inability this term to break down compact defences more commonly seen at the Riverside a big issue to solve this summer.

A bizarre post-match press conference

Taking you behind the scenes at the Cardiff City Stadium to end, there was a little reminder at how basket-case some football clubs can be in comparison to Boro, who are far more stable.

Despite being 4-0 down from the 60th minute until their late consolation, Cardiff fans made their feelings clear as they sang their support of manager Erol Bulut and their desire to see him stay. His contract is up at the end of the season and the uncertainty has been a big talking point of late in South Wales.

Entering the press room for his post-match press conference, he was joined by chairman Mehmet Dalman, who sat among the journalists and interjected when Bulut was asked about his future. "Why don't you let me have dinner with him tonight?" he fired back before the Turk was able to answer.

It was a bizarre situation that left everyone in the room taken aback. To put that into context, imagine Steve Gibson or Neil Bauser sitting in a Michael Carrick press conference and answering for him from the back of the room...

For what it's worth, it would appear that Dalman is keen for Bulut to stay, but the final decision has to come from owner Vincent Tan, who has been reserving judgment. A strange situation considering Cardiff's improvements this season, from a Boro perspective, it was a bizarre incident that did make you appreciate the more calm nature of the behind-scenes matters on Teesside.