Coventry 0-0 Middlesbrough: Sky Blues held in Championship play-off first leg
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The CBS Arena witnessed only its second goalless draw of the season
Coventry failed to register a single effort on target as they were held to a goalless draw by Middlesbrough in the Championship play-off semi-final first leg at the CBS Arena.
Michael Carrick's Boro were the greater threat in a tense but poor contest.
Boro came closest to scoring when Chuba Akpom and Isaiah Jones brought first-half saves from keeper Ben Wilson.
But Mark Robins' Sky Blues will need to significantly improve in Wednesday's second leg at the Riverside Stadium.
The Championship's two top scorers, 28-goal Akpom and City's 21-goal striker Viktor Gyokeres, managed just one effort on target between them.
Riley McGree set up Akpom inside the box, but his right-foot shot was not quite powerful enough to beat Wilson, who touched the Middlesbrough forward's shot on to the bar.
Wilson then had to be alert again at his near post to save bravely from Jones after a misplaced Callum Doyle pass had been cut out.
And Akpom might have done better when he headed McGree's left-wing cross narrowly wide just a minute after the restart.
But the nearest either goal came to be threatened after that was Paddy McNair's in-swinging corner in injury-time, which swung in more closely than initially appeared comfortable and ended up missing Wilson's left post by mere inches.
Stakes high for Coventry and Boro
The tension of the occasion on a very pleasant sunny Sunday lunchtime in Coventry in front of a sporadically fever-pitch 28,874 crowd was down to the size of the stakes on offer for Coventry and Boro.
Coventry have not played Premier League football since their 34-year-long stay in the top flight ended under Gordon Strachan in 2001 - and this is comfortably the closest they have come to getting back there in the 22 years since.
Their story over the past decade in particular has been all the more remarkable - two more relegations, two changes of owner, two stadium moves and a problematic eight years of groundsharing with rugby club Wasps.
But their progress in the six years since boss Robins came back to the club have helped put things right on the pitch, despite all the ongoing issues that remained off it.
Boro, by contrast, have been exiled from the top flight for only six years. But they too have been back on an upward curve since Carrick arrived on Teesside in late October.
When Coventry won 1-0 at home to Boro early in the season, both teams were in the bottom three.
But since then, Carrick's side have had the best record in the Championship - better even than champions Burnley and good enough to lift them from 21st to fourth, five points better off than Coventry, who themselves came from even further back, having at one stage been bottom.
With either Sunderland or Luton waiting in the final, this tie could not be more in the balance when the two teams line up again on Teesside in midweek.
And Coventry can head north with positive memories of their only previous experience of the play-offs, in 2018, when Robins' men were held at home in the first leg by Notts County, but won the second leg 4-1.
Mark Robins' Coventry have not lost in their past nine away games, while Boro have not lost at home in the league under Michael Carrick
Coventry City manager Mark Robins told BBC CWR:
"We're right in there. We'll go up there and give it our best shot. There's still everything to play for and it's very finely balanced.
"We've nothing to lose. Everything shifts on to them as they'll be expected to win now. They'll be considered the favourites.
"There was very little to choose between the teams. It was disappointing in terms of chances created by both sides, but the energy was phenomenal. We had to work really hard for what we got.
"Second half we were a lot better but we just didn't have the cutting edge. It shows just how hard you've got to work to create anything."
Middlesbrough boss Michael Carrick told BBC Radio Tees:
"it was a tight game. We knew we were going to have to defend well as they're a real threat going forward.
"But Coventry also have a good defensive record and we did manage to create one or two decent chances that, on another day, we might have taken.
"We have waited a while for this and the boys will be all the better for getting this out of the way and getting into the thick of it.
"Coventry are a good side on a good run. But we can now go into Wednesday night looking a bit stronger."
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- Published12 May 2023
