Boro head to Hillsborough sitting in seventh position in the Championship table, three points adrift of the play-off places with three games remaining.
The two sides directly above them in the table face tricky away games against teams scrapping for their lives in the bottom three – Bristol City head to Luton while Coventry are at Plymouth – but their rivals’ results will be immaterial unless Boro can take all three points in their penultimate away game.
The stakes could hardly be higher, but having watched his players’ persistence pay off on Friday as they scored a stoppage-time winner against Plymouth, Carrick will be urging his side not to panic whatever happens over the course of today’s game.
“There’ll be twists and turns, 100 per cent, and they’ll carry on right to the wire,” said the Boro boss, whose side will finish the season with a home game against Norwich and a trip to Coventry. “But we’ve been speaking to the boys about the balance of controlling the emotion of it.
“You have to keep doing the right things. You can get so desperate at this stage of the season, but that doesn’t help. You can chase things and do things that don’t really come naturally to you, and that almost certainly isn’t going to help us very much.
“You mean to do the right thing, but your emotions take over and it can overspill. I thought we avoided that well (against Plymouth). We kept on doing the right things and, for the most part, made clear decisions. We didn’t let the frustration get to us, and we’ll have to do that again whatever happens in the (Sheff Wed) game.”
While a failure to beat Sheffield Wednesday will not necessarily be fatal to Boro’s promotion hopes, it feels imperative that they leave Hillsborough with a positive result.
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So, while Carrick will be checking on other results once the final whistle has blown in South Yorkshire, he will not be worrying about what is going on elsewhere until his own side have taken care of business.
“We just have to focus on ourselves and try to win the game,” said the Boro boss. “It’s almost simple and straightforward in terms of the job we need to do, although it doesn’t make it easier or simple at all.
“It’s there right in front of us. So, we’ve got to deal with that and be excited by it. It’s still a great chance.”
Finn Azaz should be going into today’s game full of confidence after scoring his first goal in eight matches in Friday’s win over Plymouth.
The Republic of Ireland international has had to get used to a slightly modified role on the left-hand side, with Carrick playing either Morgan Whittaker or Kelechi Iheanacho in the ‘number ten’ slot in recent games.
However, Azaz showed positive signs of getting to grips to with his new position on Monday, with his increased goal threat potentially benefiting Boro this afternoon.
“It was a really well-worked goal that Finn scored (against Plymouth),” said Carrick. “All the way through, and then with Tommy’s (Conway) great little run. It was a good little finish really, backing it up.
“So, all around, it’s great to see Finn back on it. He made a good chance for Tommy in the second half on his left foot and the keeper made a good save. Then it was also great to see Tommy score as well and keep that going.
“We’re going to need to score goals to win games over the next three games, so it’s nice for the lads to get that feeling.”
Carrick shuffled his defence in the second half of Friday’s game and will have to decide whether to stick with Jonny Howson at centre-half against Sheffield Wednesday or restore Dael Fry to the starting line-up, potentially with Howson moving across to replace Anfernee Dijksteel at right-back.
George Edmundson returned to the squad on Friday, but is unlikely to start today’s game, while Riley McGree is unavailable after picking up a knock in training last week.
