Didier Digard is ready to make a late season return from knee injury to boost Middlesbrough's survival chances.

He said: "I don't think I've ever known pain like it and it's frightening when it hurts that bad and you're taken off on a stretcher. At first I was told I'd be out for the season, but in a way there was the relief that the damage wasn't worse.

"I've been working really hard with intensive sessions, up to seven hours a day and if I continue to progress the way I am now, I think I'll be fit to be involved for the last three or four games of the season."