Middlesbrough struggling in defence for Reading clash

Posted Thursday, April 25, 2019 by PA

Tony Pulis will once again have to piece together a team from what he has left as he attempts to drag Middlesbrough back into the Sky Bet Championship play-off places against Reading.

Boro sit in seventh on goal difference after Monday’s damaging 3-0 defeat at Nottingham Forest and in danger of missing out with just the Royals and relegation-threatened Rotherham to play.

Central defenders Dani Ayala (knee) and Dael Fry (hamstring), as well as full-back George Friend (thigh), will not play again this season, while midfielder Lewis Wing (hernia surgery) is also on the long-term casualty list.

Teenagers Nathan Wood and Djed Spence have been added to the matchday squad in recent weeks, but neither has yet made a league appearance.

Reading boss Jose Gomes has doubts over strikers Nelson Oliveira and Yakou Meite.

Oliveira lasted just six minutes of Monday’s 0-0 draw with West Brom and Meite only seven more before they were forced off prematurely through injury.

Teenager Danny Loader and midfielder Garath McCleary deputised as Gomes’ side scrapped its way to a point which all but mathematically guarantees their continued presence in the Championship.

On-loan Liverpool midfielder Ovie Ejaria managed the full 90 minutes three days after playing through a fever in the 1-1 draw at Bristol City.