GARETH SOUTHGATE last night delivered an honest assessment of Middlesbrough's dreadful run of form by ruling the Riverside outfit out of the race for a Champions League place.

A disappointing sequence during January - when they failed to win any of their four Premiership matches - was made even worse by the club's failure to add new players before the closure of the transfer window on Monday night.

Middlesbrough's injury crisis also deepened on Tuesday when reliable centre-back Colin Cooper had to trudge off at Portsmouth with a leg injury, which was being investigated by medical staff yesterday.

That means, with Chris Riggott and Ugo Ehiogu still out, full-back Michael Reiziger is likely to be the square peg asked to fill a round hole again when Blackburn visit Teesside on Saturday - and there is a suggestion Andrew Davies maybe recalled from his loan at QPR.

The selection worries facing manager Steve McClaren are certainly not helped by his failure to add Celtic's Bobo Balde, who has now signed a new long term deal with the Bhoys, to his ranks on Monday.

But club captain Southgate, also aware of Geremi's decision to turn down a chance of a return to the club, is in no mood for excuses and he is demanding the Middlesbrough squad battle on until they can welcome back some of their sidelined stars.

"Some of our targets are going to be difficult to hit now, that's for sure," said Southgate, who is hoping George Boateng, Riggott and Mark Viduka are three of those to be back in action sooner rather than later.

"We have to pull together and get a result from somewhere. It's a period where we are going to learn something about everyone at the club because we have nothing that is going to help us.

"We have not got players back from injury and we obviously didn't get any new players through the arrival doors. It's purely going to be down to the group that travelled to Portsmouth.

"There's nothing we can do about bringing players in now. The chairman, Steve Gibson, does his best to bring in who he can. But with the transfer system the way it is we have been unable to bring someone in.

"It's going to be an opportunity to give the youngsters a good run and we need them to perform."

Bolton's midweek success over Tottenham has closed the gap on sixth-placed Middlesbrough, while Charlton remain level on points with McClaren's men.

Any slip up at home to Blackburn on Saturday is likely to see Boro drop out of the top six for the first time since October and that looks like being the club's best chance of claiming a UEFA Cup spot again next season.

And - after picking up just the two points from their last 15 since the turn of the year - confidence is at a low after Middlesbrough also dropped out of the FA Cup at Manchester United last weekend.

But Southgate insists: "Sixth will qualify for the UEFA Cup and if we can patch things together - like getting George and Mark back - then hopefully we will get our form back.

"Sixth is still up for grabs because noone is taking charge of the positions. Everyone is doing their best to stumble."

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