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Middlesbrough suffer Ben Doak injury blow as Carrick offers verdict on 'horrible' Sunderland loss

Middlesbrough player Ben Doak reacts in frustration
-Credit:Getty Images


Middlesbrough’s misery in defeat to Sunderland was compounded by news they will be without key man Ben Doak for a number of weeks.

Michael Carrick says Boro are still assessing the true nature of the thigh injury that the Liverpool loanee suffered in training last week. He was forced to miss out in Boro’s 3-2 defeat to Sunderland at the Riverside on Monday evening.

Asked about the 19-year-old’s absence, Carrick said: “He just felt his thigh during the week in training. We'll see how it is. It won't be a few days, it will be longer. Probably weeks, not ages but yeah, it won't be days.”

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Carrick was speaking after Boro’s 3-2 defeat to Sunderland at the Riverside that left them chasing the top-six and now 14 points behind their bitter rivals, who stayed fourth.

It was another game in which Boro showcased the problems that have ultimately led them to this point, with only two wins in nine games shattering their top-two aspirations. They missed some decent early chances to lead by more than Delano Burgzorg’s 11th-minute opener.

They then conceded two really soft goals to fall behind before looking like they’d at least claimed a point thanks to Hayden Hackney’s wonderful strike. However, a cruel end to the game as Boro once again gifted possession to their opponents, saw Ryan Giles inadvertently deflect a cross into the back of his own net.

Reacting after, Carrick said: “To lose it like that is a tough one. It's a horrible way to lose a game, especially a game of this significance. To lose the game, to concede the goals, a deflection and an own-goal is difficult but we have to accept it.

“We started the game ever so well, went ahead and looked like we could add to it. We dealt with the two-goal swing and came back into the game and it just drifted a bit in the second half when we didn't do enough in the game. To lose it like that is a tough one to take.

“Football is ups and downs through a game and there will be times when you have the momentum and the upper hand and you have to make the most of that. You can't always expect to score more than two goals at home, to be honest. But the two goals we conceded, a deflection and an own-goal, you can pick the bones out of it but it's harsh, and we find ourselves here with nothing. It's a bitterly disappointed dressing room.”