Hackney not fit for Boro's promotion finale
Hayden Hackney had played in all 38 of Middlesbrough's Championship games until he suffered his calf injury
- Published
Middlesbrough will once again be without midfielder Hayden Hackney for the season finale at Wrexham.
Boro could go up automatically if they win in north Wales and Ipswich Town lose and Millwall fail to win, but will have to do so without the 23-year-old because of a calf injury.
Hackney, who was named as the Championship's player of the season at the EFL Awards earlier this month, has not featured since going off during the game with Bristol City on 14 March.
Without him, Boro have dropped from second to fourth, winning only two of the seven games that he has missed.
If they end up in the play-offs, they will have to wait and see if Hackney is available to play in either of the two legs with the semi-finals played on 8, 9, 11 and 12 May.
However, Australia midfielder Riley McGree is in contention to play at Wrexham after missing the past three matches.
Boro are very much outsiders of the three teams still in the running to go up behind champions Coventry City, given just a 2.2% of finishing second by Opta.
Head coach Kim Hellberg describes their chances as a "possibility", with the Teessiders completely dependent on events at Portman Road and The Den.
"There's always pressure to try to win the game," Hellberg told BBC Radio Tees.
"You cannot control what other teams are doing, you have to see what happens. In that way, it feels more like a possibility than something else."
