JOSEPH JOB fears for his Middlesbrough future after feeling that he has lost manager Steve McClaren's faith in his ability.

Despite the serious injury that has kept first choice striker Mark Viduka out of action since Christmas, Job has been unable to command a regular place in the Boro forward line.

He was awarded a two-year contract last summer, when he looked like he was destined to move on for free, but the Cameroon international has rarely hit the heights expected of him by McClaren.

It has led to the Boro boss opting to play Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink as a lone striker on a number of occasions and the most crushing blow to Job came in Thursday's defeat to Sporting Lisbon in the UEFA Cup.

The former Lens striker was overlooked in favour of 19-year-old Danny Graham, who was handed the chance to make his first start for the club after a series of impressive displays for the reserves and a couple of impressive substitute appearances.

But Job feels his exclusion from the starting line-up was a telling sign that McClaren no longer has the belief in him to lead Boro's attack - choosing instead to select a highly-rated teenager who has made fantastic strides since playing for Chester-le-Street in the Northern League.

Ironically, after replacing Graham in the second half on Thursday, Job scored his seventh of the season with a sensational bicycle kick to herald the start of a Boro comeback from three goals down.

But the African is not convinced that the goal will be enough to persuade McClaren to give him another run in the first team - starting with the second leg at Sporting's Esdadio Jose Alvalade on Thursday.

"I don't know if that goal will make the manager think differently.

"The manager has his idea about me and I don't think that goal will change his mind," said a frank Job.

"I have nothing against Danny Graham because he has done well, it's not his fault that he is playing and not me. It's very frustrating for me. It just shows how much the manager trusts me to have me in the team.

"It really shows how much he trusts me and it's really disappointing."

Regardless of Job's personal frustrations he is desperate to help Boro recover the one goal deficit in Lisbon in the second leg - with the Teessiders needing two goals to ensure progress to the last eight.

The 27-year-old, worshipped a little over a year ago when he scored the opening goal in the Carling Cup final at the Millennium Stadium, is likely to come into contention for the return and will be given another chance to stake a claim for a regular spot.

Immediately after Viduka picked up the hamstring problem on Boxing Day it was Job who was handed the initiative to take over as Hasselbaink's partner - starting five of the next six games.

But McClaren has since tried Malcolm Christie, Graham and Szilard Nemeth there as well as choosing to play five across midfield instead.

If he is given a starting berth against Sporting, Job is confident that he can provide Boro with the necessary shooting power to claim what seemed an unlikely comeback on Thursday night.

"There are reasons why we have not been scoring but I'm not the manager, I'm just the player and when he plays me I will go and play and try to score and do my best. Hopefully I will play on Thursday but I never know," he said.

"It was great for me to score such a goal last week but we can't forget that we lost even though we scored the two late goals the second from Chris Riggott. We were dead and buried but it's a lifeline and hopefully we can get a clean sheet, two goals and we will go through.

"I expected Sporting to be good and they will be better at home. I hope they won't play to their best on Thursday and we will stand an even greater chance.

"They play with possession and we have to work hard on them to go through."

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