Hamer blow fells Middlesbrough to put Coventry in Championship playoff final

No one can argue that Mark Robins does not deserve his new four-year contract extension. Not content with leading his team from League Two to the Championship, Coventry’s manager has now guided them to the verge of football’s promised land.

As Gustavo Hamer’s winner, bent superbly into the top corner, secured the visitors a Wembley playoff final date with Luton and potential Premier League entree, Steve Gibson, Middlesbrough’s owner, proved a study of despair in the directors’ box.

Gibson has a fine manager in Michael Carrick and an extremely promising team but, despite dominating much of this second leg, Boro were ultimately undone by Hamer and the excellent Viktor Gyokeres.

A flag had been placed on almost every seat and, at kick-off, the Riverside was transformed into an evocative sea of red. Once the action began, the atmosphere in the stands was reminiscent of the good times here, most notably back in 2006 when Steve McClaren’s Boro swashbuckled their way into the Uefa Cup final.

At their very best, Carrick’s class of 2022-23 can look almost as strong in midfield as that band of European adventurers. This perhaps explains why Robins took the precaution of tweaking Coventry’s formation, leaving Sweden’s Gyokeres as his lone striker.

Only Boro’s Chuba Akpom has scored more times in the Championship than Gyokeres this season. As if to emphasise that pedigree, Akpom started brightly, showing glimpses of the skill which brought him 28 league goals from his station in the hole behind the Aston Villa loanee Cameron Archer.

Perhaps tiring of the sheer pace of the passes flying towards Akpom as Middlesbrough started stretching their guests to the limit, Ben Sheaf lunged in with a hefty challenge which left the former Arsenal