Kim Hellberg's message to Sontje Hansen and Kaly Sene after rare Boro run outs

Despite injuries and a lack of goals of late, the Boro duo have struggled for much game time. But the pair both had extended run-outs at Swansea City on Monday, with Hansen bright in his 20 minutes, while Sene came within an inch of winning the game late on.

Both have really struggled for considerable minutes since Hellberg’s arrival in November. While Sene’s chances were interrupted by an injury on New Year’s Day, when asked some weeks back about Hansen, Hellberg was blunt in his response.

He noted how any player not in the team was simply not there because he felt there were better players at that time who were playing. Asked how Hansen could change that, he said the only way was impressing and working hard in training.

While Boro’s depleted squad thanks to injuries right now will have undoubtedly helped their causes, Hellberg said both had earned the chances they got in South Wales.

The Boro boss said: “I think Kaly has done his best one half of training since I arrived. He’s been fighting, happy, moving, very, very good. And then you get chances.

“And Sontje I wanted to give this chance earlier. He has done it for a quite long period of time but has been ill and then going away with the national team and then coming back very, very late.

“He was even later back so he couldn't even participate in the Millwall game. So, I think they did very good on the pitch. I'm very happy for them.”

The pair’s surprise return to action comes as Boro desperately try to end a five-game winless run to get their promotion hopes back on track. With five games of the normal season remaining, could both yet have big roles to play?

“I think everyone has to play a role,” Hellberg insisted. “That’s the thing, that’s what we talked about. There will be players who play five minutes, but maybe that’s the five minutes that decides it.

“We need the squad and we need the players and I’m very happy to see them do that performance today.”

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