Coventry City v Middlesbrough FC: Boro's end-of-season fates to be played out in the Midlands - yet again
OVER the years, end-of-season trips to the Midlands have been seismic in the context of seasons for Middlesbrough.
Back in the mid-eighties, Boro ended second-tier campaigns for two successive years at Shrewsbury’s old Gay Meadow ground, clinching their safety in 1984-85, but going down amid riotous scenes in the away stand at the end of 85-86.
In 1990-91, they were knocked out of the play-offs at Notts County – managed by a future manager in Neil Warnock - while in the following season, the 10-man Teessiders survived final-day adversity to go up automatically after coming from behind to beat Wolves at Molineux.
More recently, Boro endured pain in the end-of-season lottery against Aston Villa at Villa Park in May 2018, while they also were knocked out of the play-offs by Coventry two years ago - paying the price for not building up a lead after having the better of the first leg at the Sky Blues' home.
Boro make their latest visit to the CBS Arena on Saturday, on a bit of a wing and a prayer in their hopes of gatecrashing the top six, against a Coventry side who are unbeaten in seven games against them, winning the last four.
Beating Frank Lampard’s outfit would ensure ninth-placed Boro finish one point above the Sky Blues - currently in the last play-off spot - this season.
Michael Carrick’s side would then need at least two of three other results regarding teams above them to go their way.
Bristol City host Preston, while Millwall visit a Burnley side pushing for the title and Blackburn Rovers head to third–placed Sheffield United.
For his part, Carrick is not giving up the ghost. He said: "We have to clear our minds a bit. When I say clear our minds, there are certain things that we know that work for us, and that we know we’re good at, and we have to try to get the best out of ourselves. We know what we can do when we do that and how we can play. So, there’s that side of it.
"But in terms of the results and the emotional side of things, it’s pretty clear and we’ll be going into one game as positive as we can possibly be.
"It’s exciting. What can be achieved is the thing that’s dangling in front of us, that we need to try to grab.
"In all of that, controlling the emotions and controlling the game as much as we can is going to be really important in such a one-off game.”