THERE'S mixed news on the injuries to Middlesbrough's strikers, with Josh Coburn improving and expected to be back in contention "pretty soon" but Emmanuel Latte Lath further behind in his recovery.

It's not clear at this stage when Latte Lath will be fit to return. While Saturday's game against Rotherham will perhaps come too soon for Coburn, Boro will hope he's available for next Tuesday's trip to Chelsea for the Carabao Cup semi-final second leg.

Latte Lath suffered an ankle injury in the early stages of the first leg against Chelsea, while Coburn has been nursing a groin issue for the last couple of months that has to be managed carefully. He missed last Saturday's game at Millwall.

Carrick said: "Josh is closer. Hopefully Josh is closer, he's improving and we're hoping to have him around the group pretty soon.

"Manu, as you can imagine, is a little bit longer. We're trying to get him back as soon as we can."

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Alex Bangura, Seny Dieng, Anfernee Dijksteel and Paddy McNair remain sidelined, with Tommy Smith and Darragh Lenihan long-term absentees.

Asked whether any are close to being ready to return, Carrick replied: "Not really."

He added: "We have to accept it. It's not ideal. Injuries are part of it, we've been unfortunate with too many this season but we've dealt with it in a pretty good way to be where we are now in the competitions that we're in.

"We're trying to get the boys back. There's no point in getting frustrated or angry or anything about it. It's about getting the best out of the boys that we have available and having a strong finish."

Boro have had a full week to prepare for Saturday's visit of bottom club Rotherham on the back of last week's impressive win at Millwall that lifted Carrick's side to just a point shy of the Championship's top six.

Carrick said: “It’s been nice to take a bit of a deep breath. I think it’s been nice for the players to take that.

"It was a big run of fixtures we’ve had and the boys have coped with it pretty well. You’ve got to take certain moments in a season to regroup and refresh, and the boys are in a good place.

"There are now a lot of things ahead of us that we want to achieve, so it’s all eyes on what comes next and being ready for it.

"There was a bit of both [time to relax and also using the extra training time]. There wasn’t as much down time, but just the fact we had a day or two to not have to think too much about the next game and gradually building up the week as we’ve gone.

"We certainly keep a level on the training ground in an attempt to keep that edge in our performance. So there was a bit of everything over the week, but certainly all eyes on Saturday and being ready for that now."