Middlesbrough face a third successive trip to Lancashire to meet Preston North End in the Capital One Cup on Tuesday evening. It is also a third straight away tie in the competition.
Boro’s stand-in skipper Jonathan Woodgate definitely won’t be involved after a slight hamstring twinge during the 2-1 win at Blackburn Rovers on Friday evening.
“Jonathan’s injury isn’t too bad but he thought if he’d carried on it might have become more serious,” manager Tony Mowbray told Boro’s official website. “Hopefully he’ll be okay for the weekend.
“We’ve just had three games in a week and I asked him about it before the first game and he was beaming and said he really felt decent and wanted to play all three games,” he added. “That’s fantastic credit to him. Jonathan and Andre Bikey were outstanding again at Blackburn. That was as good as we’ve seen Woodgate since we came back.”
Meanwhile, young winger Adam Reach is also a casualty following a recent twisted ankle but midfielder Grant Leadbitter is back in training after taking a knock at Ewood Park. Striker Lukas Jutkiewicz scored both goals there on his return and should continue to lead the attack.
Preston are currently missing Chris Beardsley (hamstring), Lee Trundle (knee) and Lee Holmes (gashed leg), while midfielder Keith Keane also remains a doubt.
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