MICHAEL CARRICK fears Lewis O’Brien has suffered a serious ankle injury, with Middlesbrough currently waiting on confirmation of the loanee’s likely period of absence.

O’Brien was forced off in the first half of Saturday’s 3-2 win at Watford after injuring his ankle in a challenge, and while Boro’s medical staff are awaiting scan results, Carrick is bracing himself for bad news.

The Nottingham Forest loanee has been a crucial performer in the last few weeks, slotting in at left-back in the absence of the injured Alex Bangura, and with Carrick seemingly not trusting either Lukas Engel or Hayden Coulson to adequately fill the role.

O’Brien will not be involved in tomorrow night’s home game with Cardiff City, and could be facing a long-term spell on the sidelines.

“We’re still waiting on scan results at the moment, although it’s not looking too promising,” said Carrick. “At this stage, I can’t really give anything specific, although it won’t be too long because we’re waiting on results either today or tomorrow.

“Lewis has come in and done fantastically well for us, playing in different positions. He’s integrated into the group really quickly, and he’s a really good footballer.

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“Of course, it’s a blow for us, but that’s why we have a squad. As tough as it is on Lewis, the nature of the beast is that we’ve got a got for that reason. Players do have setbacks. You don’t like to lose anybody, but it gives other boys an opportunity and that’s why we’ve got the squad we have.

“We know the season is going to throw things up at us, we’ve just got to deal with that the best we can. I’m gutted for Lewis, though, and we’ll have to get him back as quick as we can.”

Darragh Lenihan missed Saturday’s win at Vicarage Road through illness, but the centre-half is on the road to recovery and has a decent chance of being involved at the Riverside tomorrow night.

“Darragh was ill over the weekend,” said Carrick. “We’re assessing where he’s at, at the moment. Hopefully, he’ll be feeling a little bit better, and well enough to get back involved, but we’ll have to wait and see.”

In more positive injury news, Anfernee Dijksteel made his first appearance of the season for Middlesbrough’s Under-21s on Friday evening.

Dijksteel suffered ankle damage as the result of a bad challenge in the behind-closed-doors friendly against Vitoria Setubal during Boro’s pre-season training camp in Portugal, but has rejoined the first-team group in training at Rockliffe Park.

“It’s great to see Anfernee getting back,” said Carrick. “He’s been out for about three months now – he got a really nasty tackle in pre-season. There’s never a good time to be injured, that was really unfortunate timing.

“He’s back in and around it now though, training with the boys and getting back up to speed. He’s got a little bit of catching up to do because he’s missed a fair bit, but that should only take a few days or maybe weeks to build him back up. He’s in a good place now.”