Early injuries again risk wrecking Boro's bid for a bright start

BUT NEW SEASON AND NEW BOSS BRINGS NEW OPPORTUNITY FOR FRINGE PLAYERS

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THE absence of Finn Azaz and George Edmundson, among others, for the opening game against Swansea brings back nightmare memories of the injury crisis that hit Middlesbrough at the start of the season two years ago.

Michael Carrick lost several players through injury, mainly defenders, which wrecked any hopes the team held of hitting the ground running. Regular members of the first team missed more than 300 games between them throughout the campaign.

While the injuries were worse in the opening months they continued right throughout the season with an average of more than six players unavailable for games. The injuries hit hard before a Championship ball was kicked. Boro suffered some poor results early on, and looked a mere shadow of the side that had reached the Championship playoffs at the end of the previous campaign.

Boro opened their campaign with seven games without a win and were struggling at the wrong end of the table for some time. Important players from the previous season such as Darragh Lenihan, Tommy Smith, Marcus Forss and Riley McGree missed most of the season.

They did not win until the end of September, when a 2-1 home victory over Southampton sparked a remarkable run of six wins on the trot, which emphasised the moral fibre of the players.

These wins included the terrific 4-0 victory at Sunderland, where Sam Greenwood’s remarkable opener against his home town club will always stick in the memory.

It wasn’t to last and Boro were left in no man’s land early in the New Year. However, with many of the injured players back in the closing months, Boro finished like a train with Emmanuel Latte Lath banging in the goals. Unfortunately the revival came too late to earn a place in the playoffs.