Coventry City 0 - 0 Middlesbrough

[dutchman]

Coventry held by Middlesbrough in first leg



Coventry City failed to register an effort on target at the CBS Arena as they were held to a goalless draw by Middlesbrough in the Championship play-off semi-final first leg.

Michael Carrick's Boro were the greater threat in a tense but poor contest.

They came closest to scoring when Chuba Akpom and Isaiah Jones brought first-half saves from keeper Ben Wilson.

Mark Robins' side will need to improve in Wednesday's second leg at the Riverside Stadium.

The Championship's two top scorers, 29-goal Akpom and City's 21-goal striker Viktor Gyokeres, managed just one effort on target effort between them, when Wilson touched the Middlesbrough forward's shot on to the bar.

Riley McGree set up Akpom inside the box, but his right-foot shot was not quite powerful enough to beat Wilson.

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.

But the nearest either goal came to be threatened after that was Paddy McNair's in-swinging corner in injury-time, which missed Wilson's left post by mere inches.

The tension of the occasion on a very pleasant sunny Sunday lunchtime in Coventry 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.

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 groundshare 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 ongoing issues 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.

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."

[dutchman]

Tight and cagey affair as first leg ends all square



Coventry City had to settle for a goalless draw as they struggled to find a way past a determined Middlesbrough side in their play-off semi-final first leg at the CBS Arena.

A total of 28,874 fans created an electric atmosphere but the Sky Blues couldn’t take a goal advantage into Wednesday’s second leg at the Riverside Stadium after an often nervous encounter in the Midlands with neither side wanting to give anything away.

Boro enjoyed plenty of early possession and went closest to breaking the deadlock in a cagey affair when Chuba Akpom had sight of goal and saw a shot tipped onto the crossbar by Ben Wilson.

The visitors continued to dominate the ball in the opening half an hour, enjoying 67 percent of the possession with Coventry not managing a single attempt on goal in a game where chances were few and far between for both sides. However, Liam Kelly and Gus Hamer hit City’s first shots shortly after, albeit the first blocked and the second going wide as the home side grew into the game, with the fans knowing there is still a lot more to come from their team in the second half.

Boro again started the brighter of the two sides after the break when Ryan Giles sent in a deep cross to the far post where Akpom was allowed a free header, albeit directed it wide of the target.

City gave a better account of themselves in the second half but still struggled to test the Boro keeper, enjoying ten attempts by the 70 minute mark but not a single effort on target. They kept pushing amid four minutes of stoppage time but had to settle for a clean sheet as the two-legged tie remains wide open ahead of Wednesday night's second leg in Teesside.