Middlesbrough Cup victory came with a price, as the team is now “decimated” due to 14 injuries.

Middlesbrough’s injury crisis deepened at Vale Part after their Carabao Cup quarter-final win.

Middlesbrough will duly be celebrating their excellent run in the Carabao Cup continuing to the semi-finals, but it comes at a cost. Michael Carrick admitted his squad was ‘decimated’ as they lost yet more players to injury.

In a crisis that just doesn’t seem to ease for the Boro boss, those that are fit are not starting to show the wear and tear of needing to play so much football. There were five new injury concerns added to Carrick’s problems, with nine already confirmed as out of the game.

That went up to ten before kick-off with Rav van den Berg unable to travel due to a sore back. Then Emmanuel Latte Lath was withdrawn at half-time at Vale Park having felt his hamstring. He was replaced by Isaiah Jones who didn’t start the game due to his own hamstring issue and lasted only 20 minutes before himself being withdrawn.

And then to put a slight dampener on what was an otherwise special evening for the club as they progressed to the Carabao Cup semi-final for the first time since winning it 20 years ago, Matt Crooks felt his hamstring and was quickly withdrawn, before Morgan Rogers was clattered and was forced off also.

Carrick said after: “The squad is decimated and we have more niggles tonight, but it’s all part of the journey. Rav had a bit of a stiff back after getting an elbow to it at the weekend. So we’ll have to see if we can get him back for Saturday.

“We had to manage Manu, he felt his hamstring a bit; Izzy felt his hamstring. That’s part of why he didn’t start because he’s been carrying a bit of a niggle and put in a hell of a shift on Saturday, so it was a case of managing that. We managed him second half when we could get him off the pitch.

“And Crooksy and Rogers. So they’re adding up. We’ve been talking about that for a number of weeks now, we’ve found a way, managed and we’ll have to keep finding a way.”

While it was an excellent victory for Boro and a thoroughly professional display to see off Port Vale and advance in the cup, Boro are left counting the numbers with 14 players now injured or at the very least a doubt for the weekend clash with West Brom at the weekend.