Middlesbrough boss Michael Carrick has refused to rule his side out of making the Championship play-offs ahead of a crucial clash with Hull City on Wednesday.
Just a few weeks ago, Boro were in a dire spot in the second tier. One win in eight in all competitions from the end of January to early March had seen them slip as low as 14th in the table. There were murmurings of discontent surrounding the Riverside and fears that things were only going to get worse.
Recently, though, Carrick’s side have shown more of the grit, determination and quality that saw them narrowly lose to Coventry City in last season’s play-off semi-finals. A 3-1 win over Norwich City at the start of March kickstarted this run that has seen them pick up five wins and two draws in their last seven, while also keeping five clean sheets in the process.
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A brace from top scorer Emmanuel Latte Lath was enough to secure all three points over Swansea City on Saturday, ensuring Boro kept pace with play-off competitors Coventry and Norwich who both got huge wins over Leeds United and Ipswich Town respectively. The Teesside outfit now sit eighth in the Championship, six points off the top six and with a huge trip to Hull City on Wednesday.
Although with that gap being six points with just five games to play, the former Manchester United midfielder was asked if his team may need 15 points from 15 if they are to gate-crash the top six:
“Maybe, maybe yeah,” he said in an interview with The Northern Echo.
“It’s difficult to say. It’s that time of year when results get thrown up. Who knows, we just have to keep going one game at a time. Especially with the games coming up, there’s no way we can take our eye off the ball. We’ll keep fighting and give ourselves a chance. The longer we’re in and still have a chance, the better.”
A man in form 🔥 #UTB pic.twitter.com/OALkvvOPNO
— Middlesbrough FC (@Boro) April 8, 2024
He was also proud of the character that his Middlesbrough side showed to ‘win ugly’ against Swansea and previewed the trip to Hull.
“That’s all we can do at this stage. We’re coming from behind, we’ve put a bit of a run together, we just have to try and extend that as long as we can,
“Wednesday is a new challenge and will have a bit of a say on what the picture looks like after that. We just have to keep chipping away and see how we end up.”
Writer’s View
Carrick has faced his first tough season as a boss this time around after such a successful first campaign in 2022/23. But the 42-year-old is perhaps proving his quality even more now as he overcomes the hurdles that have been thrown at him to spearhead a play-off push once again.
Middlesbrough undoubtedly have a talented squad that, at its best, can perform at a very high level. Currently, Boro are doing just that, but if they are going to be the team that makes the latest of late pushes and competes in May’s play-offs, they may well have to be perfect from here on through. Their form is undeniable and if it carries on. they would be one of the favourites, but there is probably just a feeling that this run has come a couple of games too late.
