Middlesbrough FC

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• Manager:Tony Mowbray

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Season over for injured O'Neil

17 Apr 2008 - 13:37:39

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Middlesbrough midfielder Gary O'Neil will miss the remainder of the season following knee surgery.

The 24-year-old former Portsmouth star suffered knee ligament damage in last weekend's 1-1 draw with Tottenham Hotspur and will now miss the final four games of the campaign.

O'Neil has made 29 appearances during his first season with the Teessiders following a £5million move to the north-east last summer.

"The surgeon is happy that everything went well," Boro's medical department head Grant Downie told the club's official website.

"It was a routine operation and Gary is expected to be available for pre season training in the summer."

The news comes just days after O'Neil insisted he had no regrets about swapping a top-six spot with Portsmouth for a place in the bottom half of the table with Boro.

He said: "For me it was good to get a change and get some new surroundings.

"We're not as far up the league as we'd have liked, but we've had a couple of decent spells and, if we can make those spells longer next year, we'll get higher up this league.

"We've shown we can compete against the best and it would be good to finish it off with a good few wins and make our league position a little bit healthier."