ANFERNEE DIJKSTEEL and Riley McGree will miss Middlesbrough’s home game with West Brom tomorrow night, and are also unlikely to be available for the weekend trip to Preston.

The duo were not involved in Boro’s weekend defeat at Portsmouth after picking up what Michael Carrick described as “little niggles” in training last week.

Neither player has suffered a long-term problem, but they have not returned to training and will not be considered for either of their side’s next two games. They could also struggle to make the Tees-Wear derby with Sunderland in a fortnight’s time.

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“Anf and Riley are going to miss a bit longer,” confirmed Carrick. “They’re definitely not going to be around it for the next week or so. We’ll try and get them back as soon as we can, but we’re still fully assessing when that will be, but certainly a week or two at least.”

In more positive news, Luke Ayling and Aidan Morris both came through their weekend substitute appearances unscathed and are pushing for a return to the starting line-up against West Brom.

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Morris came on for the final 20 minutes at Fratton Park and could dislodge Dan Barlaser from the starting line-up tomorrow night. Ayling was an 88th-minute substitute against Portsmouth, but he too is pushing for a return to the starting side against the Baggies, which would enable Carrick to move Rav van den Berg back to his preferred position of centre-half.

“Aidan and Luke came through their returns well and had no other issues after it, which is positive,” said Carrick. “It’s good to have them back. They had similar injuries actually, in the end.

“They didn’t have much training leading into the game, but both got back onto the pitch at different stages, which was a good step for both of them.

“It’s great to have them around the group again. Seny (Dieng) was back as well. He’s back now fully and he’s fine again.”