Huddersfield Town's Richard Stearman not ready to start against Middlesbrough despite making the squad against Wycombe Wanderers

The centre-back has not featured since November's reverse fixture, when he picked up a hamstring injury.

He was an unused substitute in Saturday's 3-2 defeat at home to Wycombe Wanderers but in a time when nine substitutes can be chosen with a maximum of five to take the field, the mantra that if a player is fit enough for the bench, he is fit enough to start no longer applies.

“Right now from the medical point of view he cannot start,” coach Carlos Corberan said of the former Sheffield United defender. “The advice from the medical (staff) was that he could play 10 minutes, maximum 15 minutes of the last game.

“He didn't train on Sunday, he had a recovery day after the number of consecutive days he was training before the previous game. He will train today and I don't think the situation will change a lot because we haven't had many days or training sessions between the games.”

Danny Ward remains unavailable with a calf problem, but the Terriers have not reported any fresh injury concerns.

Jayden Brown trained on Sunday and Monday, and Corberan said that provided he came through unscathed, he would come into consideration for the squad.

Brown has been missing since the FA Cup defeat at Plymouth Argyle. Huddersfield are short at left-back with Harry Toffolo serving the second match of a three-game ban, but again Brown may not be ready to start as the Cup outing was only his second of the last two months. Midfielder Lewis O'Brien filled in on the left of defence against Wycombe, and is likely to do so again.

Support The Yorkshire Post and become a subscriber today. Your subscription will help us to continue to bring quality news to the people of Yorkshire. In return, you'll see fewer ads on site, get free access to our app and receive exclusive members-only offers. Click HERE to subscribe.