Anyone experiencing flashbacks? Six days after playing them in the final game of the regular league season, Middlesbrough will face Coventry City in the first leg of their Championship playoff semi-final.
For their matchup with the Sky Blues, Middlesbrough is expected to be missing Dael Fry, Jonny Howson, Aaron Ramsey, and Marcus Forss. Jonny Howson is the one of these four who has the best chance of showing up because the other three are known to be out.
As was already established, the two teams’ most recent competitive matchup was less than a week ago. Gustavo Hamer of Coventry opened the scoring in that match, but Cameron of Boro equalized to give both teams a share of the spoils at 1-1.
After 46 games, Boro placed fourth in the Championship table. However, despite their rocky start to the season under Chris Wilder, it is still a remarkable achievement and a credit to Michael Carrick’s managing skills. Some fans may be upset with this, especially when automatic promotion appeared like a clear possibility.
Coventry, on the other hand, came in fifth place. The Sky Blues have been a club in trouble for more than ten years, but under Mark Robins’ leadership, they have consistently outperformed expectations and confounded critics.
