Middlesbrough’s Chuba Akpom fails to punish Coventry as first leg ends level

Not even the presence of the Championship’s top two goalscorers, Viktor Gyokeres and Chuba Akpom, could give either of these renascent teams the breakthrough at the midpoint of this Championship playoff semi-final.

While Middlesbrough may feel the more optimistic as they approach the second leg at the Riverside on Wednesday, Akpom should have added to his 28 league goals to gain an edge on the scoresheet as well as in the possession statistics.

Coventry by contrast could not conjure a single effort on target in the opening 90 minutes, Gyokeres starved of service. If Sir Alex Ferguson is expecting calls from two of his Manchester United alumni, it may be that Mark Robins needs more help than Michael Carrick.

After the hosts’ nomadic existence over recent years, traipsing from Northampton to Birmingham and even Burton, Coventry certainly felt like home at kick-off. It was a sky-blue morning for the Sky Blues, the CBS Arena sold out, all but the 2,000 visiting fans twisting and shouting. But red lights were soon flashing once the game got under way as Middlesbrough dominated the ball.

Carrick’s team have topped the Championship’s form table since he arrived in October, even if they finished the regulation season without a win in three games since securing their playoff place.

Coventry have not been far behind them, losing only one of 17 games on their climb from the bottom of the table to the fifth place they booked with last Monday’s 1-1 draw at the Riverside. The manner in which Middlesbrough kept the ball and played their way out from the back was befitting of a neutral’s preconceptions of a Carrick team.

They could have been ahead in the 13th minute. Riley McGree, all bustle and deft touches, played in Akpom but his