Last Updated: Wed, 16 Dec 2009 14:30
Seb Hines is the latest Boro defender to suffer injury to leave the club facing a centre-back crisis ahead of the Newcastle clash.
With Sean St Ledger not available, Hines was expected to come in at centre-half but he suffered a serious-looking injury in the reserves' 3-2 win over Morecambe on Tuesday night and looks to be out of the big weekend game.
Hines had headed Boro into a first-half lead from Cameron Park's corner at the Riverside in the second string clash but the evening got worse for the 21-year-old, who was only coming back from a knee injury when he was stretchered off just seven minutes into the second half.
It is unclear how bad the injury is but, with St Ledger ineligible and Chris Riggott also injured, Boro boss Gordon Strachan may be forced to utilise Emanuel Pogatetz as a makeshift central defender against the Magpies and start with Andrew Taylor at left-back.