Middlesbrough midfielder Rhys Williams will be forced to play the remainder of the season with a hernia problem.

The 21-year old Australian World Cup hopeful is currently experiencing difficulty getting up for every game for the Teessiders but manager Gordon Strachan said with the current injury situation at the club, Williams will have to continue to toil.

"Rhys hasn't trained this week," Strachan told the Middlesbrough Evening Gazette.

"He has been carrying an injury. I know what it's like. I had to keep playing with a hernia operation once when I was a player.

"It's not easy but he has done fantastically well to keep playing.

"If we had more midfield players, then we could make changes and give players a rest when they need one but at the moment, I really can't do it."

Boro are currently in eighth position on the Championship table with just two league games remaining this term.