Boro must win at the CBS Arena on Saturday to leapfrog the Sky Blues into the top six, but Michael Carrick’s side also need Millwall and Blackburn to fail to win away to Burnley and Sheffield United respectively.
Boro can also overhaul fifth placed Bristol City but need the Robins to lose at home to lowly and woefully out of form Preston.
Carrick’s side had a top six finish in their own hands before the disappointing home draw with Norwich on Saturday.
But captain Howson, who has been a key figure despite playing out of position at centre-back in recent weeks, says Boro need to block out the results they need to go their way in the other games and focus only on ensuring they get what they need at Coventry.
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“We have managed to take it down to the last game of the season and stranger things have happened in football,” said the 36-year-old, whose Boro future is uncertain ahead of his contract expiring this summer.
“We’ll focus on that and go to Coventry trying to get the three points. Who knows, we’ll see what happens.
“Obviously we need help from elsewhere as well. But we have to just concentrate on ourselves because we can’t affect what happens elsewhere. That’s out of our hands.
“As it should always be, we focus on ourselves and the rest is what will be, will be. We can’t go into that Coventry game doubting anything or just assuming they’ll beat them or whatever.
“If we come off that pitch having not given it a real good go when it could have gone for us, that would be the worst possible thing.
“We go there to win the game and we can do no harm in doing that, whatever happens elsewhere. We’ll see what happens after that.
“We’ve taken the race to the last day, albeit out of our hands a little bit. But we’ve still got a chance.”
Meanwhile, Hayden Hackney and Tommy Conway were the big winners at Boro’s end of season awards this week.
Hackney won Player of the Year and Players’ Player of the Year, while Conway, who has enjoyed an impressive first season at the club after his summer move from Bristol City, scooped Young Player of the Year and Goal of the Season for his early opener at Blackburn recently.
Frankie Coulson was named Academy Scholar of the Season.
Boro Women’s team celebrated winning promotion to tier three just two days after clinching the National League Division One North title.
Abby Towers picked up the Women’s Player of the Season award, while Leanna Giles was named Women’s Young Player of the Season.
Armani Maxwell was a double winner. She won Women’s Players’ Player of the Year and Community Player of the Year, alongside George Edmundson.
