TONY MOWBRAY has reminded Middlesbrough fans there is no money available to reinforce his squad after slipping to a third successive defeat in the Championship.

It is the first time under his management that Boro have lost three league matches in a row and he must now work on ways of addressing the slump despite a growing list of absentees.

With key midfielder Nicky Bailey ruled out for the long term with a knee injury, Kevin Thomson (one match) and Julio Arca (three) now face suspensions after picking up red cards in the defeat to Coventry.

But Mowbray, who was given the go-ahead to bring in Lukas Jutkiewicz last week for a fee believed to be £1.5m, has accepted that he will not be able to bring in more new faces unless he can reduce the wage bill.

“I'm pretty sure if the chairman (Steve Gibson) is saying there is no money available, there is no money available,” said Mowbray. “He's not hiding any behind the sofa. We have to get on with it. It is what it is.

“It will resolve itself sooner or later, whether that is the end of the season we will see. We have players out of contract then and there maybe some more money available when we have readdressed the salary structure of the football club. We will have to do that.

“In the mean time we have to try to stay in the top six of the Championship, other players will get their chance and we have to try to find a good run of results like we had in December.”

Mowbray, whose side now sit five points shy of leaders West Ham, will be aware that there are just three points separating Middlesbrough from ninth.

The tightening up of the top half of the division is not ideal ahead of a period in which he faces having to come up with a plan to cope without a few of his midfielders.

Thomson will, though, be back after next Sunday's FA Cup fourth round tie at Sunderland and Mowbray will try this week to rebuild confidence after the recent dip in form.

He said: “The difficult period has arrived. Three defeats in the league is not something we wanted. Yet we need to pick it up very quickly and try to reproduce what we did in December.

“We need to find that sort of form quickly. When you are losing players it is not that easy. I think the consistency of the team generally helps the team. The team has been changing and it does affect the rhythm.”