Middlesbrough disturbed by fireworks before play-off first leg
‘I woke up, saw it was 1am and had a chuckle to myself’: Michael Carrick sees the funny side after his Middlesbrough team were woken by fireworks the night before play-off first leg 0-0 draw with Coventry
- Middlesbrough and Coventry played out a stalemate in their play-off first leg
- Fireworks were set off outside the Middlesbrough team’s hotel the night before
- Michael Carrick insists that it made little impact on him or his team
Michael Carrick and his Middlesbrough players were disturbed at 1am by fireworks outside the team hotel hours before their Championship play-off clash with Coventry.
Carrick’s team drew the first leg of their semi-final 0-0 at the CBS Arena and will be favourites to progress to Wembley from Wednesday’s home leg against the Sky Blues – even though they could have done without the impromptu wake-up call.
It is unclear whether Coventry fans were responsible for the fireworks, though Carrick said it had made little impact on him or his team.
‘I woke up, checked the clock, saw it was 1am and had a chuckle to myself,’ he said. ‘I shut my eyes and went back to sleep again. We didn’t make a big deal of it.’
Michael Carrick and his Middlesbrough players were disturbed at 1am by fireworks
Boro had the majority of possession but their 28-goal top scorer Chuba Akpom had a rare off day, seeing an effort diverted on to the post in the first half and heading wide when unmarked in the second.
They were the only serious efforts on goal from either side as Akpom, his team-mate Cameron Archer and Coventry top scorer Viktor Gyokeres struggled to find their rhythm.
Coventry boss Mark Robins said: ‘I said to the players that we are still in there shouting and that’s the big thing. They have the stronger squad, they’re favourites to go up and rightly so. But we’re still involved so let’s see how we recover.’
Carrick’s team drew the first leg of their semi-final 0-0 at the CBS Arena on Sunday
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