STEVE McCLAREN will have a numbers count before his Middlesbrough squad board their flight to Greece this morning, after the list of injured first team regulars continued to grow last night.

Boro, already without Stewart Downing until the New Year with a knee injury, are working on the likelihood that Ugo Ehiogu, Franck Queudrue, Ray Parlour and Mark Schwarzer will all be unavailable for the second leg with Skoda Xanthi tomorrow night.

Goalkeeper Schwarzer missed Sunday's defeat to Sunderland with a shoulder problem and young deputy Brad Jones looks likely to fill in for him again in Greece.

There are fears that Schwarzer will be out for four weeks with the problem and, if that proves to be the case, it will be a huge blow to McClaren's hopes of progressing in the UEFA Cup and climbing higher up the Premiership table.

The Aussie has been one of the best shot-stopper's in the English league for a number of years and the Boro boss is having to trust coach Paul Barron's judgement and have faith in his less experienced understudy.

Jones, also from Down Under, has seven league appearances behind him and his talent was the reason why McClaren chose not to replace Carlo Nash when he left for Preston last season.

And, such are Boro's selection problems defensively, defender Chris Riggott is in line to play his first game since April, despite only playing 45 minutes of reserve team football.

With Ehiogu unlikely to travel today with the groin injury picked up against Sunderland, and Queudrue unlikely to be risked from the start with a shin complaint, one of Riggott or Matthew Bates will partner Gareth Southgate at the back.

Midfielder Parlour is also set to stay on Teesside for the rest of the week, as he tries to recover from the knee injury which will keep him out of Sunday's trip to Aston Villa.

But Gaizka Mendieta, Szilard Nemeth and Stuart Parnaby are all in the squad to face Xanthi - who Boro lead 2-0 from the first leg - after playing alongside Riggott for the second-string against Wigan on Monday night.

Downing, meanwhile, may be missing out on valuable time to impress England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson but he has been told he is in line for his second regional player of the year award.

Having already been named The Prince's Trust North-East Footballer of the Year on Monday night, he has been named the North-East Football Writers' Footballer of the Year too.

The 21-year-old's first full season as a Boro first team regular led to him being called up by Eriksson and he is seen as one of the leading candidates to play the left-side for his country long-term.

The knee injury he suffered at the start of this campaign required an operation and he is not expected to return to Premiership action until the turn of the year.

However, he is hopeful that when he makes his comeback he will still have sufficient time to force his way back into Eriksson's thinking ahead of the World Cup by hitting form for Boro.

"It has been an incredible year for me. Obviously the highlight was being picked for England but I am just pleased to have got a full season behind me at Middlesbrough and had the chance to establish myself in the first team squad," said Downing.

"The injury has been a setback. It is still early days but we have set a target for late December, early January, and anything before that would be a bonus.

"It is my first serious injury and comes at a bad time with the season just starting, but I am actually coping better than I thought. I thought I would be really down about it but the lads, people at the club and people around me have been fantastic. They have helped me come through it. I also have plenty of work to do to keep me occupied.

"The big target when I get back is the World Cup squad, but I just want to get back into the team at Middlesbrough, that's my first aim. There is plenty of competition for places and I want to be back among the squad as soon as I can."

Downing's time on the sidelines has brought everything back into perspective for a talented, young winger whose ability has attracted attention from other clubs - including Tottenham who had a £7m bid turned down in the summer.

Behind Downing in the football writers awards was Hartlepool striker Adam Boyd. Sunderland's Julio Arca was third.

* James Morrison and Danny Graham have been called into England's Under-21s to face Holland on October 9.

l On Wednesday, October 5, 'A Night To Remember' is being held in Middlesbrough's Blue Lounge as a tribute to legend Brian Clough.

The evening is being held for the Brian Clough Memorial Fund - to raise funds for a statue of a young Clough walking through Albert Park. For more information call Will Sutton on (01642) 224347.

Read more about Middlesbrough here.