MICHAEL Carrick praised Middlesbrough’s incredible spirit after the 2-1 victory at Championship leaders Leicester - which was all the more impressive after Boro were dealt two major fresh injury setbacks ahead of the trip to the King Power Stadium.

Captain Jonny Howson and star midfielder Hayden Hackney could both be facing lengthy spells on the sidelines with knee injuries suffered in separate tackles just minutes apart late in Wednesday night's defeat at Preston.

Carrick says he isn't sure at this stage how long the pair will be out but admitted it "doesn't look too pretty". Boro were also again without Dael Fry and Josh Coburn at Leicester, but the makeshift team stunned the Championship's runaway leaders.

Boro are now awaiting further Howson and Hackney assessments.

"Right now, I'm not too sure," said Carrick when asked by BBC Tees how long the pair will be out.

"It doesn't look too pretty. We've had scans, we're waiting to be assessed. It's two knee problems from two tackles that are five minutes apart. It's just another bizarre one really you can't do much without.

"They're two important players for us but Dan (Barlaser) and Lewis (O'Brien) were unbelievable.

"We're missing some big players. Losing Jonny and Hayden this week and Dael, I think four or five lads who have been captain at some stage are not in the team."

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Despite those issues, Boro completed a league double over the Foxes after Finn Azaz produced a cool finish into the top left corner from Lewis O’Brien’s square pass to break the deadlock in the 24th minute before Sammy Silvera powered home to double the lead eight minutes before half-time.

Jamie Vardy found the bottom left corner with five minutes left to play from Tom Cannon’s ball in behind but Boro held on to claim their first win at the King Power Stadium and inflict a first home defeat on the Foxes since November.

The visitors remain seven points off the play-off places and Carrick insists his side have plenty more to offer after securing just their second league victory since the turn of the year.

He said: “The spirit and the will to win was there, tactically the boys understood it, the boys were so eager to carry it out, it’s not easy as we’ve taken a few hits lately, the spirit was incredible.

“I’m just happy the boys had something go their way for a change, they deserve it because they’re an unbelievable group to work with, it doesn’t surprise me.

“The players are happy without being overly happy which is good, they’re eager to bring on what’s next, there was almost a feeling we could have scored one or two more and made it a little bit easier, they had chances towards the end, but there’s a good sense that that is still not enough, we want some more.

“We played very similar to how we played at home against them, they put five across their top line, it was just different personnel and the boys did their specific jobs unbelievably well and I was really pleased they took that on board.”