MICHAEL CARRICK has confirmed Matt Crooks and Duncan Watmore both missed today’s 2-1 defeat at Preston because of “minor injury issues” – and the Middlesbrough head coach is hoping the pair will be able to return for Tuesday’s game at Hull City.

Both Crooks and Watmore were not involved in the matchday squad for Carrick’s first game in charge of the Teessiders at Deepdale.

Neither has suffered an especially serious injury, but they were unable to be involved as Boro succumbed to Jordan Storey’s stoppage-time header.

They will be assessed over the course of the next 24 hours, with Carrick keen to be able to use them at the KCOM Stadium on Tuesday night.

He said: “They both had niggles. It was a couple of different issues, so we’ll just have to see how they go for the game on Tuesday.”

With both players available, Carrick opted to field Chuba Akpom in the ‘number ten’ role at Preston, with the forward playing off the shoulder of Rodrigo Muniz.

Akpom did well in the role, opening the scoring with a back-post header, and Carrick felt his performance improved as the game wore on.

He said: “It was never going to be perfect because we were trying little things and a few different ideas. Of course, that (Akpom’s position) was something we looked at today.

“I thought he did well the longer he was in the position – he definitely came into the game more in the second half. He started being a threat and causing problems, which was good to see, and we were recognising certain things that we were asking the boys to look for, and again, that’s a positive.

“Of course, we’ll be making little tweaks here and there, but it’s small steps and we’ll keep trying to improve.”