The cheers came shortly before 3pm on Saturday, when Middlesbrough were gifted another glorious opportunity thanks to Luton’s last minute winner against Coventry City.
But after Boro yet again fluffed their lines against a woefully out of form Norwich side, the worst team in the division in recent weeks, the majority of fans didn’t stick around for the post-match lap of appreciation which follows the final home game of the season. A draining season which has underwhelmed, frustrated and disappointed.
The sight of so many empty seats at full-time should be as much as – if not more of – a worry for Michael Carrick than the league table. Boro are now ninth, behind, believe it or not, Blackburn, who were in a shambolic state on and off the pitch just a matter of weeks ago when Carrick’s side won at Ewood Park.
Since then Boro have won just one of five games and failed to score in three of them. There’s been a call for positivity this week but that needs to be produced on the pitch, where Boro have too often been ponderous and one-paced.
That was the case against Norwich, who headed for the Riverside having conceded 10 goals in their last three games but deserved their clean sheet and draw. If anything, it was the Canaries – no doubt buoyed by the dismissal of Johannes Hoff Thorup and interim appointment of Jack Wilshere – who looked more likely to win it in the second half.
As was the case in the second half against Sheffield Wednesday, Boro didn’t look like a side with so much at the stake. The performance had an end of season dead rubber feel about it.
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Carrick claimed Luton’s win over Coventry wasn’t spoken about in the dressing room. Surely that can’t be the case? While the focus had to be on getting the job done at the Riverside, the early result lifted the fans and you’d have thought it would have been the same with the players.
The game and occasion was crying out for some intensity and urgency that was missing throughout.
“We wanted and needed to win the game but couldn’t find that moment,” said Carrick.
“It’s just one of them things. The boys were trying. We obviously understood the importance of the game and what it meant.
“Football is football, sometimes you try that hard you lose that fluidity or imagination.”
Ben Doak was back at the Riverside and joined the players on the pitch for the lap of appreciation. Boro have lost eight of their 16 games since his season came to a premature end but it’s too simple to pin the disappointment of recent months purely on the winger’s absence. Boro only won two of the eight games with Doak in the side prior to his injury, including costly draws with Plymouth, Sheffield Wednesday and Cardiff and painful defeats at Preston and Portsmouth. So many missed opportunities.
In the league standings since the mid-point of the campaign, Boro are 12th, below Hull, Swansea, Oxford and Portsmouth. They’ve lost 10 of their 22 games. They’ve looked very much a mid-table side over the course of the last few months, capable but woefully inconsistent and plagued by issues that Carrick hasn’t been able to solve despite their presence throughout the entirety of the campaign. Boro have underachieved this season. And yet, remarkably, could still yet finish in the top six.
Despite slipping to ninth and below Millwall and Blackburn, it would be a surprise if the Lions or Rovers won on the final day. It would, however, on the evidence of recent weeks, also be a surprise if Boro were able to look after themselves and get the job done at Coventry, even if the Sky Blues have stuttered badly themselves. Bristol City aren’t secure yet but will surely beat Preston on the final day, even if they lose at Leeds on Monday night.
Millwall head to Burnley, whose thumping of QPR on Saturday suggests they have no intention of taking their foot off the gas. And Blackburn are at Bramall Lane, where Sheffield United will want to sign off for the play-offs with a positive result.
Carrick clung at the prospect of a final day twist but even the head coach, who started the week so bullishly despite the Sheffield Wednesday setback, was visibly downbeat after the Norwich draw.
“It’s still possible but we’re all bitterly disappointed,” he said.
“We know what the final day can bring and the swings. We still have a chance. But after today we’re bitterly disappointed.
“That’s where we’re at. We didn’t get what we wanted so that’s the situation.
“We have to go into next week with the belief and hope and try to win the game. It can go all sorts of different ways. If we can try and win the game then we’ll see what happens.
“It’s there for all of us to know that anything can happen. We have to go there with hope and expectation and energy and enthusiasm and win what will be a tough game and see what comes at the end of it.
“We definitely have the belief in terms of going there but we can’t kid ourselves, we’re relying on others now.”
Hardly ideal.
