Needing to win to have any chance of forcing their way into a play-off place, Boro were found wanting as Jack Rudoni’s double condemned them to a 2-0 defeat at Coventry’s CBS Arena.
Coventry’s win secured their play-off spot, with Frank Lampard’s side now set to face Sunderland in the first leg of their semi-final on Friday night.
Boro came close when the scores were level, with Coventry goalkeeper Ben Wilson touching Finn Azaz’s shot onto the post, and pushed unsuccessfully for an equaliser throughout the second half.
Ultimately, though, they were found wanting. The season has been a failure, with serious questions now to be asked of head coach Michael Carrick. Presiding over what he described as “the best squad” of his Boro career, Carrick has failed to improve on last season’s eighth-placed finish, with his side ultimately finishing tenth.
Going backwards is unacceptable, and Steve Gibson must now decide whether or not to hand the former England international another season at the helm. Gibson backed Carrick when his position was called into question a couple of months ago. It has not proved to be the right decision.
While the Coventry fans serenaded Lampard at the final whistle, Boro’s dejected travelling support gave their players a half-hearted moment of applause before heading to the exits.
Carrick tried to console his players, but everything felt exceptionally flat. In truth, it has for quite a while.
There has been precious little anger during Boro’s dreadful end to the season, but apathy can be an even more dangerous emotion. As things stand, there is precious little to get excited about ahead of next season.
Carrick’s decision to restore Neto Borges to the starting line-up meant a positional reshuffle for Boro. Borges played in his usual position of left-back, which meant Samuel Iling-Junior pushing forward into a more advanced role down the left-hand side.
The first task facing the Teessiders was to ensure they settled into the game without conceding an early goal, and while Coventry were the dominant side in the opening stages, the visitors successfully achieved that aim.
Ellis Simms fired a first-time shot wide of the post after Milan van Ewijk crossed from the right, before Ben Sheaf fired over after Tatsuhiro Sakamoto displayed some nice trickery down the right-hand side.
Jonny Howson produced an important block after Ellis Simms turned in the box, but for all that Coventry were the side doing most of the early pressing, Mark Travers was not seriously threatened.
The question was whether Boro could offer anything to trouble Wilson in the Coventry goal at the other end. The answer, for the majority of the first half at least, was no.
Morgan Whittaker fired a tame side-footed effort at Wilson after Hayden Hackney’s initial attempt at goal had been blocked, but it was the 35th minute before Boro were able to create a real opportunity.
Whittaker started the move, breaking purposefully from his own half, and when Conway laid the ball off to Iling-Junior, the Aston Villa loanee clipped a decent effort just wide of the post.
Four minutes later, and Boro were going even closer. Azaz was allowed to drift towards the penalty area without a Coventry defender making a challenge, and when the Irishman tried his luck with a low curler, Wilson did superbly to touch the ball onto the right-hand post.
It was a crucial moment, as within five minutes, Coventry opened the scoring with a goal that summed up Boro’s defensive frailties for much of the campaign.
Iling-Junior failed to adequately close down Sakamoto, allowing the Japanese winger to float over a cross from the right. Jonny Howson stood off Rudoni, leaving the midfielder in a pocket of space that he exploited by glancing a header past Mark Travers.
Needing to win to have any chance of scrambling into the top six, Boro at least showed more urgency in the second half.
They went close just before the hour mark, but while Azaz fired in a smart first-time effort after Whittaker prodded Borges’ deep cross into his path, Wilson got down sharply to make his second fine save of the game.
Travers kept out Rudoni’s low strike at the other end to ensure Boro remained just one goal behind, before Coventry came within inches of doubling their lead when substitute Brandon Thomas-Asante cracked a 25-yard strike off the post.
With Boro trying to push forward, the game became increasingly open, and Coventry made their win safe with three minutes left.
Thomas-Asante broke down the left and slid over a well-judged pass that invited Rudoni to slot home his second goal of the game.
