TONY Mowbray is hoping to use the January transfer window to plug some gaps in his Middlesbrough squad, despite an ongoing need to reduce the wage bill at the Riverside.

Mowbray has been monitoring a number of players in recent weeks, with a new striker the priority given a lack of established alternatives to his current first-choice pairing of Scott McDonald and Marvin Emnes.

The Boro boss continues to operate under strict financial constraints, and despite the club's wage bill shrinking markedly in the summer, chairman Steve Gibson remains keen to see further savings.

His stance will change if the Teessiders win promotion to the Premier League, but Mowbray's financial projections are having to be premised on a worst-case scenario of another season in the Championship.

Even so, he is hoping to receive the green light to pursue a handful of targets next month, even if that means yet more cost cutting next summer, when Matthew Bates, Barry Robson, Justin Hoyte and Tony McMahon are all due to become free agents.

"There could be a bit of short-term leeway in terms of making signings," said Mowbray. "But in the long term, that outlay will have to be recouped in terms of addressing the wage bill.

"With the landscape of sitting fourth in the table, I would think our club could resist any offer for any footballer next month. The priority would be to utilise the squad to see where that takes us, and if that means gambling with someone running out of contract, then I think it's probably worth the gamble.

"This is football, so who knows who's going to ask questions about your players. Are we going to ask questions of other clubs about their players? Possibly. But it'll be on the understanding that our wage bill is too high at the moment, so if we add players, then somewhere along the line we're going to have to lose players as well."

Robson is one of the players who could be set to leave Teesside when his contract expires at the end of the season, but the Scotland international is at least available for tomorrow's game with Brighton having shaken off the thigh injury that kept him out of Boro's last two games.

Rhys Williams should also be fit to face the Seagulls, even though an ankle problem has prevented him from training this week.

"Barry has trained, so as long as he has no reaction, he'll be in contention," said Mowbray. "Rhys hasn't trained this week yet but the plan is that he puts his boots on (this morning) and sees how things are. We'll have to gauge his well-being after training.

"He has an ankle injury. He got it last weekend and he's been getting treatment on it all week. It's delicate enough that we've held off trying it for as long as we can."

Boro are also taking their time with Kevin Thomson's rehabilitation from a hamstring injury. The Scotland international played for more than an hour of this week's reserves win over Rotherham, but is not expected to make tomorrow's starting XI.

"Kevin is ready to play in his mind and is frustrated he wasn't in the squad last week," said Mowbray. "But my job is to manage his general fitness and bring it back to a position where he doesn't have to miss another game when he comes back.

"He's been unfortunate during his time here. He's had a few problems, including the broken leg that didn't really heal as well as you would have hoped. We'll get him back up to speed as quickly as we can."

Thomson could be on the bench tomorrow, and Malaury Martin will also hope to make the matchday squad after his last-gasp heroics at Bristol City on Saturday.

The Frenchman is still to make a Championship start for Middlesbrough, but his set-piece winner at Ashton Gate has enhanced his chances of further involvement.

"Malaury is one of those players who has been around the fringes," said Mowbray. "One week he makes the bench, another week he doesn't. I know he's been very frustrated over that, but my job is to pick a team that, on any given day, I feel can win a football match.

"Is he any closer to the first team? Yes, I think he is, but his strike at Bristol wasn't something out of the blue. We'd seen it against Birmingham and I see it every day on the training ground.

"Yet some weeks, I sit there and look at the balance of the squad and can't get him on the bench. It's a difficult balancing act at times, but he was there last week and he made an impact. I think any footballer who does well in a cameo role always pushes himself to the forefront of your mind for the next game."