MICHAEL Carrick says he hopes to have Chuba Akpom back in action "pretty soon" - and has provided a positive injury update on Jonny Howson, Paddy McNair and Josh Coburn.

Last season's top scorer Akpom hasn't yet featured in pre-season because of a knee injury and was again missing as Boro continued their preparations for the coming Championship season with a comfortable 2-0 win at Rotherham.

But Carrick hopes the frontman is soon back in contention.

He said: “He’s had a problem with his knee, so unfortunately he’s missed a few weeks. Hopefully he’ll be back pretty soon.

"Injuries happen, you’ve got to deal with them and we’ve got good staff to do that. Hopefully we have him back as soon as we can."

Howson, McNair and Coburn were also absent at the New York Stadium, as was Anfernee Dijksteel who picked up an injury in Portugal.

Updating on the injured players, Carrick said: “He started pre-season Jonny, but just picked up a bit of a niggle, unfortunately for him. It’s nothing more major than that and we’ll look to have him back pretty sharpish.

"Paddy has just had a sore achilles, he's training again tomorrow. Josh picked up a niggle in Portugal, he shouldn't be too long. He had a problem with his knee so left Portugal a couple of days early, it's no big deal."

Matt Crooks was ill over the weekend, which is why he had a 25-minute run-out at Rotherham. He was introduced at half-time and replaced on 70 minutes by Alex Gilbert, who scored the second goal.

Summer recruit Sammy Silvera set Boro on their way to victory with an early opener.

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Silvera joined Morgan Rodgers, Hayden Hackney, Darragh Lenihan and Isaiah Jones in a strong starting XI, which also included Martin Payero. Carrick changed his entire team at half-time, with Crooks, Marcus Forss, Dael Fry and Matthew Hoppe among those who were introduced.

Carrick said: “It was a good game. Like a lot of these games at this time of year, the first half had a really good intensity and it was a real good test and work out for us.

"We did really well and there were a lot of really good things in the game. Second half, we made a lot of changes to the team but I thought the boys coped with it really well.

"They made changes too, so it does tend to fizzle out. But the boys stuck at it, done what we asked them to and tried the right things. So I’m happy. There were a lot of good individual performances and more importantly, collectively I thought we looked like a really good team, so I’m pleased with it.

“I thought we looked dangerous throughout really when we went forward. Possession is possession, but it’s not good unless you look dangerous - which I thought we did there. First half in particular, some of the combination play, and runs in behind, play around the box, was really good and I thought we probably should have been more than one goal ahead.

"But that’s no drama because we looked to do the right things. Second half, we could have had more goals as well, so it was a good night for us."