Boro will have to do without star duo Mark Roberts and Andy Drury over the Christmas period. Roberts will have to wait until the New Year before tasting action once again after sustaining a small hairline fracture to a bone in his foot in the 2-1 defeat

Boro will have to do without star duo Mark Roberts and Andy Drury over the Christmas period.

Roberts will have to wait until the New Year before tasting action once again after sustaining a small hairline fracture to a bone in his foot in the 2-1 defeat to Ebbsfleet in the league while Drury will be out until the end of January after undergoing a hernia operation.

"Robbo has now got the cast off his foot but he needs a bit more rest and he will be back ready for us in the New Year," said Westley.

"It will be four or five weeks before we see Andy (Drury) in action."

Westley was therefore not too disappointed to see Boro's match against Barrow fall victim to the snow at the weekend.

"We all try to look on the positive side of a situation here at Boro so Saturday's postponement means it's one less week where we will have to cope with the absences of Andy Drury and Mark Roberts.

"The conditions would have been poor and it might not have been the best of spectacles so we look forward to welcoming Barrow here in the New Year."

Westley insisted the recent bad weather has not disrupted his plans too much as Boro prepare to face Cambridge United on Boxing Day.

"We started to think about three or four weeks back about how the bad weather would affect our training so plans were already in place to cope with it," added the 41-year-old.

"We had a sense on Friday that the game may be postponed so the lads went to their local gyms to do some work and stay in shape.