Graham Heads Back To The Riverside

Danny Graham in a rare appearance

Graham goes back to his parent club at the end of his one month loan spell, of which he has spent the majority of his time away from Carlisle lounging on the Teesiders treatment table. The 21-year old's loan deal expired after United's excellent 2-1 win at Doncaster, the striker having only made two starts in a blue shirt before suffering with shin splints in the 3-2 defeat, a game in which he scored, at Northampton Town on the 13th of January.

The Gateshead-born frontman went straight back to the Riverside for some physiotherapy on that injury, a problem which the Middlesbrough coaching staff feared could be a repitition of an old stress fracture problem. 'Boro assistant manager Malcolm Crosby wasn't prepared to risk Graham extending his temporary spell at Brunton Park though, despite Blues boss Neil McDonald haggling for an end-of-season loan deal once Danny's injury had healed up.

Graham's contract is up with Middlesbrough at the end of the current campaign and it seems somewhat surprising, bearing in mind that he has been out on loan at five different clubs, that the Teesiders aren't prepared to take a gamble on their striker getting injured again. It seems extremely unlikely that Graham will secure a further deal with the Premiership outfit in the summer so it could be a case of "watch this space" as far as United are concerned if Danny becomes available in June.