Scotland hitman suffers worrying injury blow as ex-Celtic starlet's dramatic winner sparks bizarre red card

The 22-year-old forward started the game at the Riverside Stadium but was removed after just nine minutes of an entertaining clash that saw the Teessiders concede three second-half goals and drop out of the EFL Championship playoff places.

"Tommy felt his hamstring a little bit at the start,” said Middlesbrough head coach Michael Carrick. “We’ll see how bad, if bad, how bad it is. He did come off pretty quickly, but at this stage it’s impossible to tell. We took him off straight away. We’re not sure yet on how serious that will be.”

The injury could prove to a particularly big blow to his side’s promotion hopes if serious, with Carrick’s side already nursing a host of injury problems as they sit a point outside of the playoff places ahead of a tough test against Burnley this weekend.

Meanwhile, former Celtic academy star Rocco Vata continued his rich vein of form for fellow promotion hopefuls Watford as he helped down in-form Portsmouth 2-1 at Vicarage Road in a heated clash that resulted in a bizarre red card for one of Vata’s teammates.

Tom Cleverley’s side had fallen behind early in the game due to Zak Swanson’s 10th minute strike, but found themselves on level terms early in the second-half thanks to a Edo Kayembe penalty - though replays showed contact between Watford forward Kwadwo Baah and Pompey’s Freddie Potts had occurred outside the box.

It was 19-year-old Vata who would then become the Hornets’ hero, completing a dramatic comeback by tapping home a 95th-minute winner after he reacted first to Moussa Sissoko’s close range drive and poked home beyond Nicolas Schmid.

“We have an exciting prospect on our hands,” said Watford manager Tom Cleverly following the game. “He's really improving. He is desperate to score goals. He's an animal in and around the box and it’s no fluke he’s got two big goals for us."

The last-gasp winner was Vata’s fourth goal contribution in the last four games, and followed his late leveller at Hull City earlier in the month and his two assists in the victory over West Bromwich Albion last weekend. His goal would result in a bizarre red card for teammate Baah though, with the young German striker sent off for goading Portsmouth fans after the full-time whistle.

The 21-year-old was seen performing a dance from the popular computer game ‘Fortnite’ in front of the Portsmouth away end after angry fans had targeted Baah following their late defeat. With players and fans incensed by his actions, Baah’s teammates were forced to restrain angry Portsmouth players as the German under-19 international continued a dance known as the 'Take the L' dance in front of the officials

The dance is said to signal for the opposition to ‘take the loss’ and is a often used by Atletico Madrid forward Antoine Griezmann when he scores in La Liga. Baah was left embarrassed though, when referee Geoff Eltringham called him over and sent him off after the whistle for a second yellow card.

"I will deal with KB internally,” said Cleverley after the game. “You want to win with humility and dignity. I want all my players to be under the microscope at high levels and KB needs to get use to that sort of scrutiny. He will come under abuse at times and has to deal with it better.