NEIL WARNOCK admits injuries elsewhere mean he will have to name Paddy McNair and George Saville in his squad to face Bournemouth tomorrow – even though the pair were in international action for Northern Ireland last night.

McNair and Saville will fly direct to Southampton from Belfast later today before linking up with Boro’s first-team squad ahead of tomorrow’s Championship game at the Vitality Stadium.

McNair played the full 90 minutes as Northern Ireland drew 0-0 with Bulgaria in a World Cup qualifier at Windsor Park last night, while Saville played for the opening 74 minutes before he was substituted.

Ideally, Warnock would have liked to leave them out of tomorrow’s squad in order for them to recuperate ahead of Monday’s home game with Watford.

However, with Anfernee Dijksteel and Marcus Tavernier definitely out of tomorrow’s game, and a number of other players nursing knocks, Warnock has had to rethink his plans.

The Boro boss said: “They lasted the game (for Northern Ireland), but Paddy did take some blows, didn’t he,” said Warnock. “It’s not been the greatest international break for us – we have picked up another couple of injuries.

“Hopefully, they’ll be okay, but it’s difficult with those two (McNair and Saville) not coming back until today. They’re flying into Southampton later on this afternoon to meet up with us at the hotel.

“I just hope if they play, they don’t pick up a serious injury. I didn’t want to play either of them if I could, but we’ve had one or two knocks and it looks like I’m going to have to.”