Championship: Coventry Secures Playoff Rematch with Middlesbrough Following Draw at Riverside

The dry run staged here was a strange dress rehearsal, but Coventry required a point to guarantee a playoff place. Although it was not quite a phoney war, no one expects things to be quite as low tempo when they meet Middlesbrough again in an impending two-legged Championship playoff semi-final.

Mark Robins, Coventry's manager, said, “Everyone should be proud of what we’ve achieved. In the circumstances, it’s a dream; we’ve just got to enjoy the moment.”

Since falling out of the Premier League in 2001, Coventry has been on quite a journey, most of which was unpleasant. Apart from the nadir involving their dropping into League Two, they have frequently seemed on the verge of homelessness or extinction.

Robins was installed for a second stint as manager in 2017, and he immediately led Coventry out of the fourth tier before winning promotion to the Championship three years ago. They were up against Boro side who kicked off destined for fourth place regardless of the result, leaving Michael Carrick with quite a dilemma. If there was no point in busting a gut and collecting needless injuries and suspensions on Monday, Boro’s manager had to trust his team to regain their customary intensity in the Midlands on Sunday before the all-important return to the Riverside three days later.

Coventry made the better start, taking a 22nd-minute lead when Gustavo Hamer lashed a loose ball beyond Jack Steffen following a goalmouth tussle. Boro barely shifted out of second gear throughout the first half but equalized on the brink of the interval courtesy of their first shot on target, when Cameron Archer pounced on the fallout from a corner. As Boro staged a modest second-half revival, with Riley McGree influential in midfield, Carrick was pleased by the way his central defenders, Paddy McNair and Darragh Lenihan, subdued Coventry’s gifted Sweden striker, Viktor Gyokeres. The championship’s second top scorer has registered 21 league goals this season but was repeatedly second-guessed.

Chuba Akpom had a quiet game, but Robins is unlikely to have been fooled by his performance. Boro's leading scorer has not claimed 28 league goals this season by accident, but the former Arsenal forward has benefited from some high-caliber final passes.

Carrick readily admits that Brighton is his stylistic template, and since his appointment last October, when Boro sat 21st after a disastrous start under Chris Wilder, the former Manchester United and England midfielder has overseen an extraordinary transformation. However, he is not accepting any plaudits yet, refusing to contemplate a possible north-east derby with Sunderland at Wembley just yet.