Inside track as City welcome high-flying Middlesbrough

TOUGH TEST FOR TIGERS TONIGHT

- By BARRY COOPER

SERGEJ Jakirovic met the media as preparations continued for tonight's showdown with Middlesbrough at the MKM Stadium.

City go into the game on the back of a dramatic comeback win at fellow promotion rivals Stoke City, thanks to goals from Semi Ajayi and Joe Gelhardt, while Boro were fighting back themselves to beat Derby County 2-1 at the Riverside Stadium in the first game of the Kim Hellberg regime.

Both Jakirovic and ex-Boro man Matt Crooks were on media duties at City’s Cottingham training ground, and here's a flavour of what was said.

INJURY LATEST

Jakirovic will make a decision on whether or not Liam Millar and Oli McBurnie are fit enough to be involved this evening, while Charlie Hughes is fit.

Hughes missed the win at Stoke City with a hamstring problem and underwent an MRI scan on Monday, but trained alone on Wednesday and will be in the squad.

After training on Thursday, the City boss will decide on the inclusion of Millar and McBurnie, or wait until Wednesday night when City face Wrexham. Cody Drameh, Kasey Palmer and Eliot Matazo remain sidelined. Brandon Williams has also picked up a calf problem, which will keep him out.

LOOKING BACK AT LAST WEEK

Those post-match scenes at the Bet365 Stadium have been well-documented, and City can expect another fine coming their way in the near future. Naturally, it was only right to ask Matt Crooks about his version of events and the win in Staffordshire in general...

“It’s been really good (this week). A great win, never better than to do it late in the game. The atmosphere’s still been good. The performances and the results may not have been as good as previous weeks, but the atmosphere within the camp has still been really high, and I thought we showed a good togetherness on Saturday to pick up the three points.