When Jonny Howson, Ashley Fletcher and Grant Hall could return to action as Neil Warnock provides injury boost

Howson, 32, has been sidelined for nearly a month with a hamstring issue and was keen to play in this weekend’s FA Cup game at Brentford.

Hall, meanwhile, has been making progress after suffering a thigh issue which has kept him out of action since November.

Boro will face the Bees with a mixture of first-team and under-23s players due to a Covid-19 outbreak at Rockliffe training ground.

And despite wanting to play the strongest side he can, Warnock says it’s best to give Howson some extra time off to build his fitness back up.

“Grant should be training in the next couple of weeks, same with Jonny,” said Warnock when asked about injuries.

“Jonny wanted to be involved tomorrow and more or less pleaded with me to have half an hour.

“If it was the end of the season and we were going for something I would have done that but it’s the only chance where he has two weeks to do more hard training.

“He still has a problem with that muscle but another two weeks won’t do any damage to make it a bit more stronger.

“I said to him I’d love to have you playing Jonny but I just think we need to get it a bit stronger.”

Boro will also be without last season’s top scorer Ashley Fletcher when they travel to Brentford, with the striker expected to return to action at the end of January.

Fletcher, 25, hasn’t played since September after injuring his hamstring during Boro’s 1-1 draw with Bournemouth at the Riverside.

“He has stepped up Ashley,” added Warnock. “Jonny should be available for the next match really and Ashley isn’t far away either.

“We just probably have to give him a little bit more contact play, he’s been involved in all the pre-training but not the contact stuff.

“We’ll probably let him get involved in that from next week.”

Boro’s next league game will take place against Birmingham at the Riverside next weekend.

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