Sheffield Wednesday travel to the Riverside Stadium on Saturday in need of a positive result following the setback against Bristol City on Bank Holiday Monday.
The 1-0 defeat at Hillsborough saw the Owls fall back into the bottom three in the Championship with just four games remaining to try and turn things around.
Jermaine Johnson was omitted from the squad that lost to Bristol but has returned to training this week and could come into contention for a start, with a maximum of only twelve more points available to the Owls even if JJ is not 100% fit it could be a risk worth taking considering what is at stake.
Lewis Buxton also missed out against Bristol but played as a defensive midfielder to good effect in Wednesday’s last away fixture at QPR and could once again be considered should Alan Irvine choose to deploy similar tactics.
Should Johnson return to the side then Leon Clarke could make way with Luke Varney likely to return to a central striking role.
Middlesbrough could once again be without captain Gary O’Neil for non-footballing reasons. The influential midfielder has played 99 times for the Teesside club and another appearance would result in the club having to make a further £1M payment to his former club, Portsmouth. He was left out of their last game for this reason and there is speculation he may not play again this season, much to his disappointment.
The home side will definitely be without former Owls loan defender Tony McMahon and Emanuel Pogatetz is sidelined with a knee injury. Forward Jeremie Aliadiere is not expected to be rushed back at this stage and Willo Flood will play no part this weekend.
Andrew Taylor missed the last game against Plymouth and faces a late assessment.
The Owls travel north having won only one of their last 8 games. They have drawn 4 in a row on their travels but haven’t won an away game since mid-January.
Middlesbrough, who still have an outside chance of reaching the play-offs have been beaten 6 times on home soil this season but haven’t lost in their last 10 league games at the Riverside.
Wednesday have a shocking record at the Riverside Stadium. Since Middlesbrough moved to their current home in the mid-90’s the Owls have lost on 4 successive visits with an aggregate score of 12-3. Boro’ enjoyed a 3-1 victory at Hillsborough earlier in the season though the now departed Adam Johnson was instrumental in that game.