ALEX Nimely will make his Middlesbrough debut in this evening

ALEX Nimely will make his Middlesbrough debut in this evening's Carling Cup third-round tie at Crystal Palace, but manager Tony Mowbray is hoping the highly-rated 20-year-old is not the only striker arriving at the Riverside this month.

Nimely signed a three-month loan from Manchester City late on Friday evening, but the deal did not go through in time for him to feature in Saturday's Championship game at Selhurst Park.

He travelled to south London with the rest of the Middlesbrough squad yesterday, and is likely to start tonight's rematch as the Teessiders look to record an eighth successive away win.

His arrival has provided some much-needed cover for first-choice attackers Scott McDonald and Marvin Emnes, but Mowbray has already turned his attention to securing another new recruit.

"I would hope to try to add another striker if we can," said the Boro boss, who is expected to rest the in-form Emnes this evening. "We've made some more inquiries, but nothing's come to fruition yet.

"It's not a question of just taking any player to fill a position, it still has to be the right player for us. We've asked a few questions, but nothing's come for us yet. We're still planning to continue down that line though."

For now, Liberia-born Nimely is Middlesbrough's sole loan addition, and while the youngster has only made one senior appearance for Manchester City, he has already established quite a name for himself with the club's academy and reserve teams.

He is a regular at England Under-20 level, signed a four-year deal with City last April, and turned down approaches from Brighton and Cardiff in order to move to Teesside last week.

"He's a young boy and he's bursting to get his senior career going," said Mowbray. "It's fantastic for a young lad like that to be at a club like Manchester City, but we all know how difficult it is to get game time on the pitch at somewhere like that.

"We're here to try to facilitate a bit of that for him, and we're hoping he'll help our strike force that's being doing so well this season. Hopefully, he'll add some competition and some goals as well. We look forward to seeing him out on the pitch.

"I'd like to think he can do a bit of everything. He's a dynamic player with fast-twitch muscles that can burst past people and score a goal. He's scored a lot of goals in training in the last few days, so let's hope he can take that onto the pitch."

Nimely will not be the only alteration from the side that won on Saturday as Mowbray will be forced into a number of other changes as he attempts to guide Boro into the fourth round of the Carling Cup for the first time since 2006.

Goalkeeper Carl Ikeme is ineligible, so Danny Coyne will return to the starting line-up with youngster Connor Ripley on the bench.

Joe Bennett is suspended following his dismissal at the weekend, but Richie Smallwood, Kevin Thomson, Julio Arca and Merouane Zemmama will all hope to be involved at some stage.

Thomson was a second-half substitute as Boro secured a 1-0 victory over Palace three days ago, and Mowbray has warned the Scotsman not to expect to walk straight back into the first team following a bout of summer surgery.

"The midfield has been doing pretty well for us, but Kevin will bring some more competition and that's always welcome," he said. "He'll have to earn a place in the team because the balance of the midfield has been good.

"He'll have to be patient and train very hard, and he'll have to wait for an opportunity like anyone else would. But I think we're all very aware of Kevin Thomson's qualities and I'm sure he'll add something to what we've got."

Given the importance of Saturday's league game with Ipswich, a match that could see Middlesbrough reclaim top spot in the Championship table, there must be a temptation for Mowbray to rest a host of first-team players tonight.

His side are about to embark on a hectic six weeks, but there is also a strong desire to maintain the momentum that has been generated by an unbeaten start to the campaign.

"There's a balance to be struck," said Mowbray. "You want to keep the momentum going and keep the squad together so they're all doing the same work.

"We're taking pretty much the same squad down - there are no senior players being left behind. Everyone's coming, even if some of them end up sitting on the bench. They will all have done the same travelling, and they'll all be getting back at four or five in the morning."