ALBERT ADOMAH is in Aitor Karanka’s thinking to return to action for Middlesbrough against Charlton on Saturday afternoon.

The Ghana international missed out on Wednesday’s Capital One Cup heroics at Manchester United because of a twisted ankle.

But Karanka hopes to have Adomah cleared to play at the Riverside Stadium; to give Boro a boost knowing his team had to come through more than 120 minutes of high pressure football at Old Trafford just days ago. Midfielder Adam Forshaw, however, remains sidelined.

“Albert I will check with him on Saturday,” said Karanka, who still has Daniel Ayala, Diego Fabbrini, Grant Leadbitter and Adam Clayton a booking away from a one-match ban.

“He might be able to play through his injury, I have to know if he is fit but he has not trained with us for the last few days.

“I will have to work hard to assess the fitness of the players because I have players who played 120 minutes. I will have to check really.”

The Middlesbrough head coach is desperate for his players to follow up reaching the quarter-finals of the cup by defeating United with a victory over Charlton which could lift them back in to a top two place in the Championship.

Karanka, whose side also play Rotherham at home on Tuesday, said: “All of us know how important the game was on Wednesday but it's in the past. The main thing is the crowd enjoyed it and I'm really pleased as they haven't had these kind of games for a few years.

"After the game we had a few hours to enjoy, especially when speaking to family and friends, but on Thursday morning I was thinking about the game against Charlton.

"We're looking forward to the game. The league is the most important this season.

"We now have two important games at home and we can't afford to make any more mistakes.

"It's a dangerous game as we came from an amazing performance on Wednesday and now we're playing against a team that aren't in a good position in the table with a new manager.

"We have to think it's going to be really difficult and we have to play like we did against Man United if we are to do something."