MIDDLESBROUGH will continue to assess Neto Borges over the next 24-36 hours before making a decision on whether the full-back is fit to face Luton Town on Saturday.

Borges was withdrawn early in the second half of Boro's win over QPR at Loftus Road in midweek, with Carrick revealing the Brazilian had been suffering with an illness that he hadn't shaken off.

Boro are still closely monitoring Borges but Carrick is preparing for the possibility of being without the left-back, with Luke Ayling ready to cover on that side of the defence if required.

Ayling moved over to left-back after Anfernee Dijksteel had replaced Borges at Loftus Road and that would be the way Carrick would likely start against Luton, rather than bring in academy defender George McCormick.

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McCormick is highly rated at Boro and has enjoyed a breakthrough this season, playing three times in the league and cup and signing a new contract at the Riverside. But a first Championship start against the physical Hatters would be a tough ask for the 19-year-old. Lukas Engel is not yet ready to return from injury.

"We're still looking at Neto," said Carrick, whose side are looking to win successive Championship games for just the second time this season.

"He was ill over the weekend and it carried over into Tuesday. We’ll just have to see how he is over the next day or two going into the game.

"We’ll have to see what we’d do if Neto doesn’t make it. We’ve got Luke who played really well when he went over to left-back the other night, and George is an option as well. It is something we will need to think about. Other than that, everyone came through fine."

Boro didn't get back to Teesside from the capital until the early hours of Wednesday morning and Saturday's game is an early kick-off but Carrick insists that won't be an issue.

He said: “Tuesday into Saturday is fine. There’s loads of time in between that. There’s an element over the course of the week and assessing the boys and how many minutes they’ve played and stuff like that. But in terms of Tuesday into Saturday, there’s plenty of time to recover."

Boro had won just one game in five prior to their midweek triumph against QPR but Carrick insists performances - if not results - have been consistent.

“We’ve played like that pretty much every week," he said.

"Goals can sometimes change the perception, but honestly, nothing changed. You win games, lose games and draw games, and you can’t let the confidence levels be altered by a goal here or there.

"I’ve been largely really pleased with the boys and how we’ve played, and that hasn’t changed massively because of the way we won the game. We’ve probably played better at times and not got the result. That’s football.”