Hayden Hackney is ready to play some part in Middlesbrough’s Championship play-off final against Hull City at Wembley on Saturday, head coach Kim Hellberg said, while Tommy Conway will miss the promotion decider after an ankle injury in the semi-final against Southampton.
Hellberg said Hackney, 23, had recovered enough from the groin injury that has kept him out since 14 March to be involved in some capacity, though he stopped short of promising a full return. “Hayden’s ready,” Hellberg said. “It’s a question mark of how much he’s ready and how is best to solve the puzzle in terms of everything that goes around the game and what suits him best, and us best.”
That is a major lift for Middlesbrough, who missed Hackney badly during his 10-game absence. The Championship player of the season was out for nearly two months, and Boro won only two of the 10 matches he sat out. His return gives them a chance to restore some control in midfield at the biggest game of the season.
Conway’s absence is the sharper blow. He left the field at St Mary’s in tears after hurting his ankle in the second leg of the semi-final, and the injury has already ruled him out of Scotland’s World Cup squad. The forward has featured in every match since Hellberg arrived in November, and the head coach paid tribute to his importance by saying: “Through the season, Tommy has been very, very important.”
Hellberg added that Conway had been in especially strong form in the run-in. “Over the last five or six games, it’s been his best spell in terms of how he has run, how dangerous he has been moving into the box, how good he’s been from the left,” he said. “Of course it’s a big blow not having him in the squad, but he will do everything he can to support us.”
The contrasting fitness updates change the shape of Middlesbrough’s final preparations. Hackney’s return offers hope after a stretch in which the side struggled without him, while Conway’s absence removes a player who had barely missed a minute under Hellberg. It also comes with added backdrop: there had been concern over Hackney’s availability for the semi-final after it was believed to have been behind Southampton’s spying mission at Boro’s Rockliffe Park training ground, a dispute that has already fed into wider debate around the run-up to the final, including the Leeds Spygate backdrop as Middlesbrough hold firm on Hayden Hackney fee.
For Middlesbrough, the equation before Saturday is simple. They have one of their most influential players back, but they must find a way to replace another who had become central to the team’s recent form. Wembley will decide whether Hackney’s return is enough to offset the loss of Conway and carry Boro through to promotion.
