BIG BANG DREARY
Boro hotel fireworks fail to light up clash
MICHAEL CARRICK laughed off a 1am gunpowder plot designed to disrupt his Middlesbrough players.
The Boro boss revealed fireworks going off outside the team hotel in the early hours had woken him but poured cold water on any suggestion that his players had been affected.
Details of where the team were staying overnight had been leaked on social media prompting the surprise pyrotechnics.
Carrick said: “It didn’t really bother us. I woke up, had a little chuckle to myself, and went back to sleep.
“I saw it was one o’clock and shut my eyes again. I didn’t see anything and we’re not making a big deal out of it.”
There certainly weren’t any fireworks out on the pitch with the game proving to be something of a cagey affair.
It might have been a showpiece occasion but the match sadly failed to live up to its billing.
Both sides largely cancelled each other out but Boro were the only side to create anything resembling a chance.
Coventry did not manage a single effort on target and the visitors generally found it a struggle as well.
Carrick’s men will no doubt feel they deserved to go back to the Riverside with a victory in the bag and, although they failed to achieve that, the advantage has now swung their way for the second leg on Wednesday.
Chuba Akpom thought he had given his side an early leg-up when his 13th-minute shot caused panic in the home back line.
Akpom, the division’s most prolific marksman, was presented with a great opportunity close in and chose to try to clip the ball over goalkeeper
Ben Wilson.
But the stopper spread himself well, managed to block with an outstretched leg and was rewarded massively when the ball flew up and struck the crossbar.
Boro did have the ball in the net minutes before the break when Akpom threaded a clever ball through the Sky Blues defence to send Isaiah Jones racing clear. He slid the ball home but had already been flagged for offside.
Akpom flashed a header inches wide (inset, above) less than a minute into the second half – but that was about it in total.
Coventry boss Mark Robins fears Boro’s stronger squad could prove a key factor in the return leg.
He said: “It’s going to be tough but we are in there shouting. It was hot out there and both sides tired towards the end.
“The energy both sides have used could have a bearing on what happens in the second game.
“They have the stronger squad which is why they are the favourites.
“But we have to be ready and tuned in because it’s still a decent position to be in.”
Carrick, however, is certainly taking nothing for granted, adding: “I’m pleased but in these type of games you learn to expect the unexpected.”