MICHAEL CARRICK admits his Middlesbrough side is being ravaged by illness and injury – and is currently unsure who will be available for Saturday’s home game with Hull City.

Carrick was forced into two pre-match changes for last night’s 1-0 defeat to Blackburn Rovers, with Finn Azaz and Delano Burgzorg both suffering from a sickness bug that has swept through the Boro squad in the last few days.

Goalkeeper Seny Dieng was also forced to sit out the loss at the Riverside because of the same illness issue, having also been unavailable for last weekend’s win at Oxford United.

To make matters worse, Riley McGree was forced off in the first half of last night’s injury with a leg problem sustained when he stretched to challenge Blackburn forward Yuki Ohashi.

Carrick is having to take a head count ahead of every training session at the moment, with players dropping out as illness and injury bites.

“They (Azaz and Burgzorg) were out with illness,” confirmed Carrick. “There’s no getting away from the fact that we had some pretty good players on the sidelines. Some injured, some ill.

“We’ve got a good squad and good players, so it’s not an excuse. It was just one of those games where we weren’t quite at our best. You never know, we might have found a winner of our own as the game went on if we didn’t have a goal like that (Dom Hyam’s offside strike) go against us.

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“I don’t want to dwell too much on the absentees. It is what it is and that’s why we’ve got the squad that we’ve got.”

Carrick did not want to use Boro’s lengthy absentee list as an excuse for last night’s reverse, which left the Teessiders sitting in sixth position in the table, although he concedes he faces a nervy 48 hours as he assesses the wellbeing of a number of players ahead of the visit of Hull.

“We’ve got good players missing, but we’ve got good players who played (against Blackburn), so I don’t want to make a big deal out of it,” said the Boro boss. “At this stage, I’ve no idea who will be back fit and well for Saturday. We’ll give them time and have to wait and see.”

Boro’s medical staff will be assessing McGree today, with the Australian midfielder having been replaced by Micah Hamilton in the first half of last night’s game after suffering a dead leg.

“Riley got a dead leg,” said Carrick. “We’re not sure at this stage how that will look. He tried to carry on but couldn’t manage it. We’ll have to wait and see how he is for Saturday. There’s not much time between the two games.”