RILEY McGree has given Middlesbrough a huge end of season boost, saying he's "fit and firing" and ready for the play-offs after his return to action this week.

After three games out with an ankle injury, McGree returned to the Boro starting XI at Rotherham on Monday and got 80 minutes under his belt.

Despite defeat for Boro at the New York Stadium, McGree's return and bright showing was a big plus point ahead of the upcoming play-off campaign.

McGree has been a huge player for Michael Carrick since the head coach's October arrival, with the Aussie international featuring in every game until his recent spell out of action.

And after his timely return, he's ready to play a major role in the play-offs.

"I'm fit, firing and ready to contribute," said the midfielder, who, while disappointed with Monday's defeat, will, like his manager, focus on the positives.

"It was good to be back out there. More important would have been a win but we take the positives and move on."

After coming through his return unscathed, McGree will again feature for Boro in the final game of the regular season next Monday when rivals Coventry City visit the Riverside.

"We have important games coming up," he told BBC Tees.

"We want to go out and play the way we play and gain some momentum going into the play-offs."

Paddy McNair and Tommy Smith joined McGree in returning to action in what was a triple fitness boost on Monday, but Boro were dealt a fresh blow when Jonny Howson suffered an injury in the warm-up. Ryan Giles also has a problem he picked up in training last week, while Dael Fry, Aaron Ramsey and Marcus Forss remain sidelined.

The injury issues have forced Carrick into team selection rethinks in recent weeks but despite those fitness problems and successive away defeats to Luton and Rotherham, the head coach says the overriding emotion in the Boro camp is excitement at what's ahead.

"We've got great opportunities coming up and we're looking forward to that," he says.

"We're trying to get the boys fit, we've had a bad run of injuries, different ones and random ones but we're not on the floor by any stretch. I'm really looking forward to this next week.

"Looking at the last two games, we definitely played really well at Luton, lost the game, we all know why with that (penalty) decision, then at Rotherham there was a lot of good things.

"There are things to learn: trying to get control of the game and play the way we want and then a little bit of adapting and playing with 10 men, which might happen at some point. It was definitely a game that meant something to us.

"There are ways to lose a game which make you feel worse than others. The way we've lost, with some good play overall, the energy and spirit, it gives us a lot to look forward to."

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Coventry head for the Riverside on Monday knowing a point will secure a place in the top six, while three points for the visitors will mean Boro and the Sky Blues will face each other in the play-offs.

If Coventry lose, they'll only fall out of the play-off places if Millwall beat Blackburn and Sunderland win at Preston.

Coventry's charge into the top six is all the more impressive considering the issues they had to deal with at the start of the season. The Coventry Building Society Arena pitch was deemed not fit for use, meaning they had to postpone their first three home games. Mark Robins' side were winless until they beat Boro in their eighth outing of the season - in what proved to be Chris Wilder's last game in charge.

Boss Robins said: "When you look back to the start of this campaign it’s absolutely phenomenal. Now we have a really interesting game next week at Middlesbrough. Can we finish the job off?”