Middlesbrough boss provides update on Hayden Hackney ahead of Wrexham game - which also affects Hull City and Derby County
MIDDLESBROUGH head coach Kim Hellberg has confirmed that EFL Championship player of the year Hayden Hackney will again be missing for Boro’s final-day game at Wrexham.
The marquee midfielder has been sidelined with a hamstring injury since coming off in the Bristol City game in mid-March and has sat out the club’s last seven matches.
Hackney is progressing in his rehabilitation, but the trip to North Wales arrives too soon.
Boro can sneak into the top two with a victory against the Red Dragons, but their prospects of securing automatic promotion remain very unlikely.
On Hackney, Hellberg said: "He is going forward, but he will not play in this game.
"That’s what I can say, but he is going forward. So we have some positive news.
"We see him day to day, but he will not play in this game.”
Boro will be promoted if they win at the Racecourse Ground and Ipswich Town – currently occupying second place – lose at home to QPR and Millwall, in third, fail to beat relegated Oxford United.
It remains a real long shot, but is still possible.
A win could also secure a home play-off in the second leg of the semi-final, while the game also has major ramifications in the race for the final place in the top six, with Hull City and Derby County desperate for Boro to do them a favour against Wrexham, who are currently sixth.
On whether he will be following developments elsewhere involving principally Ipswich and Millwall, with an eye of changing his own game plans, Hellberg added: "Not in the first half, I think. But of course, you need to have a plan for everything.
"So we will talk through what we are going to do and how we are going to have control of those things.
"I think the first half is just to be played out and try to win our game and from half time and on, of course, you need to have control and watch and see what happens (elsewhere) as that can be important for us – in how we are going to take on the last 10 or 15 minutes, depending on what position you are playing for.
"In the first half, we will be trying to focus on the game and then of course, you have to involve other results in it (afterwards)."