Middlesbrough are considering signing a goalkeeper on an energency loan deal after Jason Steele went off injured in Saturday's 5-2 defeat by Reading.Steele, 20, joins Wales international Danny Coyne on the injury list, to leave 18-year-old Connor Ripley as the only fit goalkeeper at the Riverside.
"We haven't got another fit goalkeeper at the club, other than schoolboys," boss Tony Mowbray told BBC Tees.
"We'll have to address that as quickly as we can."
England Under-21 international Steele was withdrawn with just 40 minutes of Saturday's defeat gone, and faces a spell on the sidelines.
However Ripley, who went on to feature in Boro's FA Youth Cup defeat by Aston Villa the following day, impressed despite the scoreline at the Madjeski.
"We'll have to assess Jason, at the moment it looks as thought it's probably a muscle tear in his right side, and he's in a lot of pain and discomfort," Mowbray added.
"But Connor's a confident boy, he's got all the attributes, he's going to be a very good goalkeeper I'm sure of that over the next few years.
"In an ideal world it's not something we would want to do, to get him out on the pitch so soon, but Danny Coyne is still two or three weeks away.
"He came on and made a few good saves, and he's a young boy with a very big future, it'll hopefully do him no harm."
Ripley is the son of former Middlesbrough and Blackburn Rovers winger Stuart Ripley.
Source: BBC Sport
Source: BBC Sport