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Crack! Ayazz! Boro’s pre-season started with a sickening injury blow.

New boy Alex Baptiste lasted just 22 minutes of the sun-kissed kickabout at York before he went down in agony with what appeared to be a nasty ‘tib and fib’ double fracture.

Now Aitor Karanka’s first signing of the summer looks set to be sidelined for several months, blowing a hole in the boss’s carefully crafted plans.

That cruel twist of fate had witnesses wincing, groaning and bemoaning ‘typical Boro’ in equal measure.

It was a bad one. That was obvious in an instant.

The snap could be heard in the press box where the collective first thought was a silent prayer and hope that the cracking sound was a shattered shinpad.

Baptiste and the York player listed enigmatically as “Trialist A” on the team-sheet went in for a robust but routine 50/50 challenge 10 yards outside the Boro box and both players went down in pain.

The York man stayed face down on the turf having crashed heavily after the firm, but fair, collision.

But Baptiste instinctively tried to clamber back up - there was a loose ball to be won - but immediately collapsed back down again as his broken leg folded under his weight and the pain kicked in.

Those close to the incident and in line from the right flank insisted the lower limb flopped loosely as he tried to lever himself back to his feet and as he went down and they could see the break clearly. It must have been distressing.

Among those who got a vivid and unwanted close up view of the snap were his Boro team-mates and the gaffer himself.

With the small dug-out nowhere big enough to hold 11 subs plus all the staff, Boro personnel including Aitor Karanka were strung out along the touchline flank in hastily assembled school chairs with a perfect view of the incident 10 yards away. They all looked distraught.

As did Dimi Konstantopoulos. The keeper was the first on the scene after sprinting over and one look at Baptiste’s injury left him ashen-faced and visibly upset.

Boro’s medical staff were a split-second behind Dimi to the scene followed quickly by the York physios who dealt with their own man - a bit rattled by the impact but unscathed - then moved on to help with Baptiste.

In an instant after arriving Boro physio Chris Mosley was anxiously signalling for a stretcher and for extra medical help while a crowd of tracksuits, players and St John Ambulance volunteers quickly clustered around the prostrate victim.

The player was clearly in pain and soon the gas and air arrived while treatment to stabilise the fracture continued for what felt like an age before Baptiste was carried off and people began to breathe again.

In what may be a positive sign, Baptiste was sat upright and seemed to be comfortable as he was stretchered off to hospital for X-rays, scans and no doubt a big dose of very powerful pain-killers.

It was a sickener. Baptiste’s signing on a free from Bolton was seen as solid squad building.

The versatile Birmingham-born defender can play centre-back or in either full-back slot and was great cover for a rearguard thin on numbers.

He has played for Blackpool in the Premier League, helped them reach the play-offs again after relegation and has put in resolute campaigns at Bolton and then last year on loan at Blackburn. He was a good signing. And he lasted 22 minutes.

It was a bitter blow after a week in which Boro fans rode an emotional rollercoaster as a big bromance was rekindled then quickly and painfully dashed as Shay Given’s Riverside return was hijacked at the 11th hour.

But there was no-one to blame for the injury, as disappointing and queasy as it left us. That’s football. And sometimes it stinks.

Ironically, the York City striker who had gone innocently into the 50/50 tackle - the Kafkaesque “Trialist “’ - is a Teessider and a big Boro fan.

Danny Johnson is well known to Karanka. The former Guisborough Town hotshot rattled in almost a goal a game in a sizzling season two years ago and the boss took him to Hurworth to train with the first team in a two- week trail.

Then, after Boro had passed on him, the lively front-runner exacted some revenge as he scored the goal as the Priorymen won 1-0 at the Riverside in the North Riding Senior Cup final in May 2014.

Shortly after he joined Cardiff but never broke through and last season had loan spells at Tranmere and Stevenage before being released.

He was booed for a while after the full-blooded fateful clash and some derogatory chanting was aimed his way.

He almost added insult to injury with an opener soon after play resumed as he pushed a ball round the advancing Dimi then steered goalwards but defender Dael Fry popped up to clear off the line.

Both sides had good chances in a game that was a typical patchy pre-season outing that aimed to shake off the ring-rust.

At one point Boro hit the post and had two point blank efforts saved within about four seconds.

At the other end York twice broke into the box in the second half only to be denied by superb saves from Connor Ripley - Boro’s third keeper of the day and the most impressive of the lot.

Boro sealed the win late on as Lee Tomlin slotted a pass behind the defence for pre-season striking specialist Bradley Fewster to burst to the edge of the box and drill home.

But that’s not important. Aitor quite rightly wasn’t interested in the football and saw few positives.

The freak blow to new boy Baptiste ensured Boro lost on the day.