Coventry set up Middlesbrough rematch in playoffs with draw at Riverside

Dress rehearsals come in many forms but they are rarely as downright strange as the dry run staged here.

The resultant draw ensured that Mark Robins’s Coventry finished fifth in the Championship … placing them on course for a two legged playoff semi-final against Middlesbrough.

With the visitors needing a point to guarantee a top-six finish it wasn’t quite a phoney war – at least not until the latter stages – but Michael Carrick’s Boro kicked off knowing they were destined for fourth place regardless.

It left Carrick, rivalling Robins for the second tier’s manager of the season award, with quite a dilemma. If there was no point in busting a gut and collecting needless injuries and suspensions on Monday Boro’s manager must trust his team can regain their customary intensity and momentum in the Midlands on Sunday before the all important return to Teesside three days later.

Coventry arrived on an impressive run of one defeat in 16 games but their moments of real assurance, most notably from the midfielder Gustavo Hamer, were offset by some understandably nervous interludes.

When a 22nd minute goalmouth tussle concluded with the increasingly influential Hamer lashing a loose ball beyond Zack Steffen, Robins’s side settled a little. Then, on the brink of half-time, a Boro team who had barely shifted out of second gear equalised courtesy of their first shot on target when Cameron Archer expertly lost his minder and pounced on the fall out from a corner. It was the Aston Villa loanee striker’s 11th goal in 20 appearances since arriving at the Riverside in January.

In many ways Carrick is the Roberto De Zerbi of the second tier. He readily admits that Brighton are very much his stylistic template and since his appointment last