WITH Middlesbrough manager Chris Wilder hinting at the possibility of changes for this weekend’s game against Coventry City, the Boro boss admits there is plenty of competition for places, especially in the goalkeeper’s position.

Boro’s eight game unbeaten run came to an end at Ewood Park losing 1-0 to Blackburn Rovers on an unemphatic night in Lancashire. The defeat saw them stay outside of the Championship play-off places.

With play-off contenders Coventry coming to the Riverside this weekend, the Boro boss is casting a thorough eye over his squad in training as he attempts to regroup the players. Even though he’s used a settled starting eleven, the 54-year-old admits there is plenty of positions in the team that are up for grabs.

Wilder said: “There has to be that level of competition and that level of fear that players know they have to keep producing a certain level of performance. Not to a level that it affects a player’s performance though.

“There is nobody set in stone in that team. I don’t see anybody who I like at and think, ‘he’s going to get a game, and he’s going to get a game’. 

“They all have to prove and fight and do whatever they have to do Monday-Friday and then into a game because there is always a chance to impress and they always have to deliver. Nobody can take their foot off their gas.

“That’s in every position that we have to have that competition. If anyone dips or thinks they can coast through it, they get found out and we get found out as a team. So competition for places is something I’m really keen on.”

One position in the team that has been hotly contested throughout the season has been the goalkeeper spot.

Joe Lumley has been a mainstay in goal for most of the season but was temporarily dislodged by Luke Daniels for a period of games. However, Lumley is high up in the clean sheet charts for the Championship keeping nine this season for Boro.

However, Wilder has moved to bring back Sol Brynn from his loan spell at Queen of the South after an impressive half season with the Scottish side.

While Lumley has played the vast majority of games but Wilder was quick to emphasise that the position is up for grabs to the player who earns it.

He added: “Obviously I made the decision to bring Joe (Lumley) back in and Luke (Daniels)’s attitude has been great since that. Sol (Brynn) has come back too so we’ve got three good goalkeepers.

“But they understand as much as anybody that they’ve got to keep their form at the highest level to cement their place or keep the form that they’re in.

“I don’t want to make a load of changes, but those we have made us stronger and form is key. They’ve got to keep on top of their game.

“Joe has generally not had an awful lot to do. In front of him, the structure of the back three or back five have defended very, very well. I would say in the Swansea game we were maybe under a little pressure but other than that, the majority of the time we’ve had the ball and we’ve been going forward.

“So that’s testament to the boys in front of him that the work he has had to do has been minimal, but I think the work he has had to do has been very good.”