KIM HELLBERG was delighted with Tommy Conway’s second-half substitute appearance at Burnley, but still does not think the Middlesbrough striker is ready to play a full 90 minutes after his lengthy injury lay-off.
Conway missed the whole of pre-season after undergoing two bouts of surgery in the summer, first to address the ankle injury sustained in the play-off semi-final against Southampton and then to deal with a separate hernia issue.
The Scotland international made his first appearance of the season off the substitutes’ bench in last weekend’s home win over West Brom, and was given a longer run-out on Wednesday when he replaced Riley McGree in the 61st minute at Turf Moor.
Conway will be back in the squad for Boro’s trip to Loftus Road tomorrow, but like McGree and Alfie Jones, who were also forced to sit out the vast majority of the pre-season period, he is not quite ready to last a full 90 minutes.
“He’s [Conway] closing into it,” said Hellberg. “But it’s also that balance in terms of giving him the opportunity to be good when he starts a game.
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“I think he was absolutely excellent in those 35 minutes against Burnley. He hadn’t trained much in terms of full sessions with us, but he’s getting better and better. He’s getting closer, and I’m very happy for that because you can see how good he is.
“With all the injured players – you have Riley, Alfie and Tommy – no one is physically there to play 90 minutes yet. But we are pushing them all. Riley has been playing 60, Alfie has been playing 70 in two games now, but it is still a situation where we are trying to get them there and they are getting much closer to being able to play 90 minutes.”
Jeremy Sarmiento will not be involved tomorrow as he is still recovering from the muscular injury that forced him off in the first half of the win over West Brom. He will return to training next week though, and should feature in either the Carabao Cup tie at Crystal Palace or next weekend’s league game against Norwich City
Myles Peart-Harris is available to face QPR having recovered from the contact injury that kept him out of the draw at Burnley.
“Jeremy will not be in the squad, but I don’t think it is a big thing,” confirmed Hellberg. “Hopefully, he will train with us when we come back from the game. Myles is ready to play.”
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