Middlesbrough midfielder Stewart Downing has said that his side's priority this season was always to win promotion to the Premier League following their exit from the Capital One Cup.

Aitor Karanka's men were dumped out of the competition as a result of their quarter-final defeat to Everton at the Riverside Stadium, when strikes from Gerard Deulofeu and Romelu Lukaku fired the top-flight outfit into the semi-finals.

Downing has admitted that he and his teammates were disappointed by the loss, but says that his side's main focus for the campaign has always been to earn promotion from the Championship.

He told the club's official website: "It was difficult game against a really good team. We always knew it would be. But that's over now, our priority is the league, the cup was a bonus.

"We can't be harsh on ourselves. We never gave up and were never far away from scoring a goal which might have made a difference to the game.

"The league is the main priority, we know that, but we're disappointed we didn't score. They're a Premier League team, but we played some good football at times, but it's back to the league, that's always been our main aim, but we're disappointed to have gone out of course."

Boro are currently second in the Championship after 18 matches this season.