KEVIN THOMSON'S injury-hit Middlesbrough career has come to an end after the remaining 18 months of his contract was mutually ended.

The Edinburgh-born midfielder started just five matches this season, coming off the bench in four, after falling out of favour under Tony Mowbray.

Mowbray had hoped to make Thomson a key member of his midfield having worked with him at Hibernian, where the player first broke on to the scene under the Boro boss.

But the 28-year-old has been unable to return to the sort of form Mowbray felt he had in him after suffering a series of injuries since his £2m switch from Rangers in the summer of 2010.

Since Gordon Strachan persuaded him to leave the Scottish Premier League behind he has made just 38 starts for Middlesbrough and 18 more as a substitute.