MALCOLM CHRISTIE has attempted to cover up the disappointment of more injury heartache by claiming his Middlesbrough teammates can claim a Champions League place without him.

Christie is still coming to terms with the fact that he will miss the rest of the season with a stress fracture of the foot - just ten days after ending a 15-month lay off after breaking his left leg twice.

The devastated 25-year-old suffered the latest blow to his career last Saturday during the win over Blackburn Rovers at the Riverside Stadium, but scan results only revealed the extent of the problem yesterday morning.

Christie is just one of a growing number of first-team players unavailable for selection at Bolton today but the striker insists Middlesbrough, despite the crippling selection worries, can still claim fourth spot this season.

"It would have been nice to have scored the goals that would help us pick up the results to move us back up the table," said Christie. "I feel recently we have been looking over our shoulders because teams have been catching us up.

"But I feel we can look forward and we can grab that final Champions League place. Everything is still to play for and hopefully the Blackburn result last weekend will be a turning point.

"We had the bad month in January that all clubs go through at some point. Everton have not had a bad month yet. They are due one. The seven-point gap between us and them will close and we will see whether it will close enough for us to overtake them."

Christie's confidence will be severely tested today when Middlesbrough travel to Bolton knowing defeat will mean dropping out of the top six for the first time since October.

Only a point separates the two sides and Bolton are in tremendous form. Christie said: "It's a bigger game for Bolton than us because they have been on a really good run recently.

"It's seven wins on the trot. It's going to be a tough game but if the lads can follow up last weekend's win then that will help us.

"They started the season well and then hit a rough patch. But it seems Sam Allardyce can turn anything around.

"He can turn average players into world beaters and it's going to be a really tough game."

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