MICHAEL Carrick was gutted for "immense" Neto Borges after the defender's injury blow at Blackburn, with Middlesbrough now waiting to discovery the severity of the problem.
Borges has been one of Boro's best players in recent weeks, helping Carrick deal with a defensive injury crisis by covering at centre-half and delivering a string of outstanding displays.
But he was forced off just after half hour mark at Ewood Park, where Boro won 2-0 to climb to fifth in the Championship, and Carrick now faces an anxious to discover how long the Brazilian faces on the sidelines.
"Honestly I don't know, we'll have to wait and see," said Boro's head coach.
"I'm disappointed, he's been immense Neto over the last few weeks. His leadership qualities, the way he's stood up to the challenge, he's been good for us and it's a blow.
"Hopefully he's not out too long but at this stage I don't know whether it's a few days or a long period of time. We'll have to see."
Rav van den Berg replaced Borges and got a crucial and impressive hour under his belt after his cameo against Oxford last week following his own five-match lay-off with injury,
"It's not easy coming on as a centre-back early in the game, I've done it myself, it's not easy," said Carrick.
"Especially when he hasn't had loads of training. But he stepped in and him and Jonny [Howson] again, another new pairing. They coped with it really well."
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Boro got off to the perfect start at Blackburn, with Tommy Conway scoring the opener after just 79 seconds and Samuel Iling-Junior doubling the lead six minutes later with a heavily deflected strike.
It was Blackburn's fifth defeat on the bounce and the home fans protested against the club's owners, but Carrick was thrilled with the manner in which his side took care of business.
"I'm delighted," he said.
"We had a good start, ideal start. The goal was fantastic, a great move and a great finish from Tommy and we built on that.
"We managed it. Credit to Blackburn, they made us work for it and the game was never really dead.
"The boys had to stay on it and really stay focused. A third goal would have been ideal but to manage the game like we did, I'm really happy.
"Every week coaches up and down the country leave the changing room talking about a fast start. It's the ideal scenario if you can get it and we got it today. I thought we managed it well after that. It's not always easy that 2-0 scoreline but we showed good maturity."
Having got themselves into such a commanding position, Carrick was asked whether the message at half-time was to defend the lead, but said: "Nah, the total opposite. We wanted to kick on and be a bit more progressive in the game.
"Credit to Blackburn, they played a few long balls and made us work for it really.
"We created a few moments on transition. We can be better with the ball than we were tonight but credit to them in terms of pressing.
"When it's 2-0 it's delicate but it was a good night all round and a job well done."
