Howson: I’m a play-off expert

THE last time Jonny Howson played in the play-offs, he helped break Middlesbrough hearts as part of the Norwich side that beat Aitor Karanka’s team at Wembley. Howson, 29, returns to the play-off picture this time in a Middlesbrough shirt. ‘Since I’ve been here, quite a few people have mentioned that game,’ said Howson, who swapped Carrow Road for the Riverside last summer. ‘I’ve been in the play-offs and I’ve lost in the semis, lost in the final and won the final, too. I’ve done the lot. It’s exciting. They’re huge games. You play football to be involved in occasions like that.’ Having beaten Bristol City, Derby and Millwall on successive weekends, Middlesbrough head into the play-offs with momentum. Goals from Britt Assombalonga and Howson on Saturday guaranteed a top-six finish, with the former driving home after latching on to a long ball from Daniel Ayala and the latter profiting from a goalkeeping gaffe by Jordan Archer. Millwall still have a slim chance of scraping into the top six, though it would take a nine-goal swing on the final day for them to overtake Derby and Preston. ‘We have to be realistic,’ said Millwall boss Neil Harris. ‘And if you had said to me nine months ago that we would be going into the last game of the season not looking over our shoulders, I would have taken that.’