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Aidan Morris absence explained as Kim Hellberg takes many positives from Middlesbrough cup win Aidan Morris was absent as Middlesbrough beat Wrexham in the first round of the Carabao Cup Aidan Morris is expected to return to training next week after missing Middlesbrough’s Carabao Cup victory over Wrexham. Will Lankshear fired a Boro side missing a number of first-team stars through to the second round of the cup, with the summer signing having an immediate impact. It was a positive way for Boro’s new campaign to get started, despite the fact their options were so depleted by injuries. Max Arfsten and Sebastian Berhalter were also both straight in for their debuts, but Neto Borges was forced to play centre-back, with Adilson Malanda in midfield, as a number of Boro players work their way back from summer injuries. Hellberg said: “Aidan being out is not a long-term thing. He will train next week, but there was no chance to play this game. It was not worth the risk to play this game. “He’s coming back, and of course we know how important he is for us. But it was good in many ways when you get this game where Neto [Borges] also played as a centre-back. “Max [Arfsten] playing his first game after only arriving on Tuesday. Seb [Berhalter] had to be the in-between centre-midfielder, moving up a little bit. “Adi had to play a bit of a different role. He does that very well and is a different profile to our other options there, with Aidan missing. “So it was a lot of new players having to play different roles also in the game. That's what I was very happy with, how good we could look in terms of the structure.” Boro got the victory their head coach wanted, to start their campaign in the right manner. There were plenty of things to like about the performance, but the Boro boss was happy to accept that it wasn’t perfect, as he pinpointed a key area for improvement. “Absolutely, a lot of positives,” Hellberg said. “A lot of things to be very happy about. We’ve played against a very good side, a well coached side who’ve worked together for a long time. “From my knowledge, I think they almost had all their squad with them. Windass missing, a very good player, of course, and maybe one or two others. “We had a lot of new players, a lot of players maybe having to move around a little bit because we have a lot of players coming back from injury, and a lot of new players coming in. “So I'm very pleased that we look the way we want to look in terms of our profile, how we want to look in terms of the game. I think, from my point of view, we controlled it. “Of course, we want to create even more chances and concede fewer chances. I think during a part of the game we were a little bit open up for some transitions where we were forcing some things with the ball. But otherwise, there are a lot of things to be happy about.” ------------- Get Teesside Live Premium now for just £1 HERE – exclusive Boro news and features, transfer notebooks, comment and analysis from Eric Paylor, plus an ad-lite experience Join our WhatsApp community to get all the breaking news and best analysis sent straight to your phone by clicking here to subscribe. Your information will be hidden, you'll only ever receive messages from the Teesside Live sports team, and you can leave any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'Exit group'. If you’re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.