STEVE Harper will put his hopes of a loan move on hold this afternoon as he finally gets his chance to show Graeme Souness what he is capable of.

As if Michael Owen's broken metatarsal was not bad enough, Newcastle will also be deprived of the services of Shay Given when they entertain North-East rivals Middlesbrough at St James' Park later today.

Given suffered a badly-bruised thumb in the latter stages of Saturday's 2-0 defeat at Tottenham at White Hart Lane.

But while the full extent of the injury will not be known until the swelling subsides, the Irishman will not feature in the Magpies' opening game of 2006.

It will be the first game he has missed this season but, while his absence represents a considerable blow, Harper is ready to step into the breach.

Excluding a solitary Intertoto Cup appearance, the 30-year-old has not started a senior game since April 9, a 1-0 defeat that came, ironically, at Tottenham.

Last month, he spoke of his desire for a January loan move in an attempt to secure first-team football.

Little did he know that the month would begin with him getting exactly that at St James'.

"I had wanted to go on loan in January because reserve-team football isn't ideal," said Harper, who made just seven appearances in the whole of last season.

"Certainly not when you've done it for as long as I have.

"I want to play first-team football and get some games under my belt.

"If I had been on loan and Shay had got injured, I could have come back straight away.

"But I can't go on loan now because this opportunity has come up for me.

"We're not sure how bad the damage is to Shay's thumb, but it swelled up straight away.

"He's made some recoveries in the past, but I don't think he'll recover for this one.

"You don't wish anybody to get injured, but it looks as though I'll be playing and I hope to go into the side and do a good solid job."

Newcastle were hit by a triple injury whammy on Saturday as teenage full-back Peter Ramage also joined Given and Owen on the sidelines.

The youngster was uncomfortable throughout the first half of the 2-0 defeat, with a calf injury exacerbating a separate Achilles problem he had on his other leg.

Despite not travelling to London, former Spurs defender Stephen Carr has an outside chance of playing in this afternoon's game against the Teessiders and, with Steven Taylor already ruled out for the rest of the season, the return of the Republic of Ireland full-back could not be more timely.

"It was disappointing to lose (at Tottenham)," said Harper.

"But the injuries have made the defeat even worse.

"When your luck is out, it really is out. We lost three good players at the weekend.

"It's going to be all hands on deck now.

"We need to have everyone in the trenches pulling together to cope with this.

"It all seems to be happening at once for us at the moment.

"Any club would struggle with the injuries we have had this season."

Nevertheless, Newcastle must re-group to face a Middlesbrough side battling against similar problems.

Saturday's defeat in London dumped the Magpies back in the bottom half of the Premiership table but the United reserve goalkeeper is hoping the second North-East derby of the season has the same positive impact as the first.

"The great thing about derby games is that they give everyone a lift," he said.

"We went on a four-match winning run when we beat Sunderland so hopefully we can do the same, starting with a win against Middlesbrough.

"We definitely need the three points.

"We had a couple of results against Arsenal and West Ham, but we've lost two away games in a row and it will be good to get home again."