Middlesbrough face an anxious wait on the fitness of a number of players for such a key match
Matt Targett of Middlesbrough before coming off injured against Portsmouth(Image: Richard Lee/Shutterstock)
Middlesbrough will have an anxious wait to see which of their injured players, if any, are able to return for next weekend’s crunch clash with Ipswich Town.
Not only did defeat to Portsmouth extended Boro’s winless run to six and helped Ipswich open a three-point gap over Boro, it also came at the expense of two more injury concerns for Kim Hellberg.
The Ipswich game became a must win for Boro to keep faint automatic promotion hopes alive. And even then, such has been Boro’s capitulation over the last two months or so, that might still not prove enough.
But the task of getting a win at Ipswich could be made even harder by Boro’s ever-present injury woes. With so many key players out, both Matt Targett and Jeremy Sarmiento were added to the list of doubts for Ipswich, as both were forced off in the Pompey defeat.
While Hellberg admitted his half-time changes were ultimately to try and inject some energy into his side, Targett’s fitness struggles were clear in the game after he missed Swansea City on Monday.
As for Sarmiento, he explained: “He had a hit on his knee, actually, so I think it was a combination that he couldn’t play through.”
The duo will add to Boro’s injury concerns for next weekend’s crucial game principle of which is the fitness of Hayden Hackney. Having missed Boro’s last four matches, and his absence understandably being felt, Hellberg’s admission on Friday that his recovery is going ‘slower than hoped’ leaves him a big doubt to take on the side he turned down a move to last summer.
While Sammy Silvera returned to the bench in the Portsmouth loss, he was unused in the game. Morgan Whittaker, meanwhile, had been rated as ‘close’ to a return for the game but was still missing.
On top of that, Boro still have defender Alfie Jones and attacking midfielder Leo Castledine absent – both of whom they’d hoped would be back by now – and Alex Bangura, who was given a chance of being back for Ipswich.
But so despondent after the manner of Boro’s defeat to Portsmouth, asked about injuries, and whether any of the above names might be back in time for next weekend, Hellberg simply said: “I don’t know.”
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