Middlesbrough 1 Sheffield Wednesday 0: Fortune fails to favour braves as Boro maintain play-off drive

Mental toughness, technical ability, desire and the correct tactics all sprang to mind.

The one thing he forget to mention, however, was 'luck' – and sometimes that can be the most important.

Irvine, who has three games remaining to save Sheffield Wednesday from the drop, does not believe in relying on luck.

The Owls manager prefers to leave nothing to chance – which is an admirable way of operating – but that still does not stop things he cannot control having the final say.

If luck had been on Wednesday's side against Middlesbrough they would have secured a victory.

They certainly would not have lost to a goal that took a massive deflection, seen a header come back off the bar at a corner, or lost a player to injury in the pre-match warm-up.

Those three factors combined to nudge the Owls closer to relegation. In the process, they also kept alive Middlesbrough's hopes of play-off qualification.

Irvine had been planning to start the game with an unchanged line-up until striker Leon Clarke pulled a hamstring.

His withdrawal meant a quicker than scheduled return to action for Jermaine Johnson, who had missed Monday's home defeat by Bristol City with a hamstring injury, too.

Amazingly, Johnson lasted the full 90 minutes but only after spurning a golden opportunity to score in the first half and picking up a knock near the end.

If the injury is bad enough to keep him out of next weekend's Sheffield derby, it will be another case of bad luck.

The Jamaican made life tough for Boro's defenders but one of the chinks in his armour has always been his finishing ability. Or the lack of it.

When Johnson switched gears and won a race to the ball with David Wheater, he was one-on-one with Boro goalkeeper Brad Jones.

Rather than attempt to go around the goalkeeper – which would probably have resulted in a goal or a penalty – Johnson opted to shoot and kicked the ball against Jones's legs.

The Owls showed plenty of early initiative, putting the home side under pressure and keeping things tight at the back.

It was 31 minutes before goalkeeper Lee Grant was called upon to make a save, diving low to his left to push Barry Robson's shot around the post.

However, with four minutes to go before the break, Scott McDonald found the net with the help of a cruel deflection.

The striker's 25-yard shot would have been easy for Grant to save but for the deflection off Mark Beevers which left him wrong-footed and helpless.

McDonald had been recalled along with winger Jonathan Franks as Boro manager Gordon Strachan made two changes and dropped Lee Miller and James O'Shea to the bench.

For the second game in a row, there was no room for captain Gary O'Neil, whose next appearance triggers a 1m payment to his former club Portsmouth.

Strachan would not be drawn on the question of whether O'Neil will play for the club again this season but, if Boro do need a win to secure promotion to the Premier League, perhaps they might just be tempted.

Boro are now eight games unbeaten and four points adrift of the top six but closed the gap by two points thanks to this victory.

The Owls were unlucky not to equalise when Luke Varney's header struck the bar midway through the second half.

Johnson showed great self-control in the second half under intimidation from a variety of Boro players. His short fuse was exposed in a flare-up with Robson just before the break.

Boro might have won by more goals towards the end but Owls goalkeeper Lee Grant produced a string of fine saves.

Former Sheffield United defender Kyle Naughton, who had been jeered by Owls supporters all afternoon, was twice denied in the closing stages. Grant also raced off his line to save at the feet of Leroy Lita.

After seven games unbeaten, the Owls have lost two in a row and the trapdoor to League One is slowly opening wider.

Watford, Queens Park Rangers, and Preston all picked up victories, leaving Crystal Palace and Scunthorpe United, who both lost, as the two teams directly above the Owls in the table.

Now a point adrift of safety, rather than by virtue of goal difference, the task of staying up has just got harder for the Owls.

However, with Palace still to play on the final day of the season, their destiny – if not their fortune – remains in their own hands.

Middlesbrough: Jones; Hoyte, Wheater, McManus, Naughton; Franks, Williams, Robson, Arca; Lita, McDonald. Unused substitutes: Coyne, Taylor, Killen, O'Shea, Miller, Grounds, Bennett.

Sheffield Wednesday: Grant; Nolan, Beevers, Purse, Spurr; Soares, O'Connor (Esajas 76), Potter, Varney; Tudgay (Jeffers 80), Johnson. Unused substitutes: O'Donnell, Hinds, Simek, Boden, Gray.

Referee: J Moss (West Yorkshire).

SHEFFIELD DERBY NOW KEY FOR OWLS

Ian Appleyard

SHEFFIELD Wednesday manager Alan Irvine has stressed the importance of victory in next weekend's Steel City derby.

With the Owls now sitting a point adrift of safety in the Championship relegation zone, Irvine believes his side may have to win all three of their remaining games to survive.

Arch-rivals Sheffield United visit Hillsborough on Sunday, before the Owls head to Cardiff City ahead of a home date with Crystal Palace on the final day.

"If we win the next three games, then I think we will be safe," said Irvine. "My players certainly don't need to be told what a 'derby' means and they are fully aware of the fact that it is a massive three points.

"Anybody who watched the Middlesbrough game knows that the players have not needed to be lifted. They were up for this game, everybody could see that, and now we have to concentrate on getting those three massive points against United."

Irvine admitted that he was concerned about his side's lack of goals after failing to score in five of the last nine games.

"The goals are not going in but we have played well enough and had enough chances," he said. "What do you do? We work extremely hard on our finishing, we do individual finishing work every day, and we get people forward into areas where they will have chances.

"Funnily enough, I read (Middlesbrough manager) Gordon Strachan's programme notes, and he thinks it is the hardest place to produce the quality consistently. Any players who do it consistently in that final third will get to the Premier League. I couldn't agree with him more."

Explaining the late withdrawal of Leon Clarke with a hamstring injury, Irvine said: " He felt it on Friday in training but was okay to continue and finished the session. We didn't think anything more of it. He came out and a long way into the warm-up he felt it again and couldn't go on."

Clarke faces a race against time to be fit for the derby along with Jermaine Johnson, who stepped in as a replacement but strained his hamstring towards the end.

"I didn't think Jermaine would be able to last 90 minutes, certainly not as wide player," said Irvine. "I decided play him up front where I thought he could have an impact without having to do too much of the defensive duties. He deserves a lot of credit."