Karanka hails old pal Mourinho as Middlesbrough go top

Just 48 hours after his abrupt departure from the struggling Premier League champions, Mourinho showed no signs of wanting to hide from the spotlight as he made the trip to the south-coast to meet up with Karanka.

The Spaniard became a trusted ally when he worked as Mourinho's assistant at Real Madrid for three years and the chance to see a friendly face clearly appealed to the former Chelsea boss after he spent months battling with dressing room dissent at Stamford Bridge.

While Chelsea were cruising to a 3-1 win over Sunderland in front of their new interim manager Guus Hiddink, Mourinho brought some good luck to Karanka as Middlesbrough ended Brighton's club record run of 22 league matches without defeat.

First-half goals from Kike and Albert Adomah put Middlesbrough on their way to their eighth win in their last 10 league games.

Cristhian Stuani sealed the victory midway through the second half at the Amex Stadium with his ninth goal of the season.

After knocking Brighton off top spot with a win that leaves Middlesbrough two points clear at the top, Karanka was quick to pay tribute to Mourinho and jokingly praise his impact on the performance.

"Jose brought us luck. We worked together at Real Madrid and it was an amazing experience," Karanka said.

"He is a friend of mine. I didn't tell the players that he would be watching but it wasn't a secret.

"Afterwards, he came into the dressing room to offer congratulations. He felt he had watched a really good team and he was impressed with us. He was the best and he will be the best."

Elsewhere in the second tier, Tom Ince's fourth goal of the week gave Derby a 1-0 victory at Ipswich that moved the Rams into second place.

Ince followed up his first career hat-trick against Bristol City on Tuesday by racing clear to shoot under Dean Gerken five minutes before half-time as Paul Clement's team climbed above Brighton.

Ipswich came close to an equaliser when Jonathan Douglas' scuffed header was cleared off the line by Jacob Butterfield.

Hull missed the opportunity to capitalise on Brighton's loss as they were beaten 2-0 at struggling Rotherham.

Burnley returned to winning ways in style with a 4-0 success over second bottom Charlton at Turf Moor.

Nottingham Forest beat Milton Keynes Dons 2-1, while  Aaron Wilbraham's late leveller rescued a point for Bristol City in a 1-1 draw with QPR.

Brentford beat Huddersfield 4-2 and bottom of the table Bolton drew 2-2 with Fulham.