Middlesbrough drew 0-0 in the first leg of their Championship playoff semi-final against Mark Robins’ Coventry City – here’s what the fans had to say.
The majority of Middlesbrough fans were pleased with their team’s performance on the day – in particular, Paddy McNair and Darragh Lenihan were praised for their strong defensive outings.
However, some Boro fans were less pleased, believing their team were not attack-minded enough. Much of this can be attributed to Coventry’s approach to the game, though – the Sky Blues were very negative throughout the contest.
I'll take that all day long.
Packed riverside, noisy atmosphere.
Going to be some night.
— Dav (@davboro123) May 14, 2023
gyokeres wasn’t even the danger it was bloody hamer
— Tyler (@Tyler_Boro) May 14, 2023
Hard to break down a team that's not playing footy 🙄 gunna be a hard fought one but I reckon we'll do it only just
— Jak ⚽️ ⚪️ 🔴 (@jakthelad95) May 14, 2023
Brilliant well controlled performance that lads, maybe we could have nicked it but hey they didn’t have 1 shot on target. McNair was phenomenal with Lenihan close by.
— chefmarko68 (@ChefMarko68) May 14, 2023
One of the worst games of football I’ve watched in a while.
— Marco (@covenhoven86) May 14, 2023
Best defensive perfomance from us for a long long time
— Harry White (@HWhite789) May 14, 2023
Middlesbrough were the dominant team over the course of 90 minutes – Coventry failed to register a shot on target across the duration of the match, as Boro’s sturdy back line snuffed out anything they threw at them.
Chuba Akpom and Isaiah Jones both had good chances to score, but the Sky Blues’ stubborn defence proved difficult to breach. Additionally, Coventry keeper Ben Wilson pulled off a number of great saves to keep them alive.
It should also be mentioned that Boro have yet to defeat Coventry City this season – despite playing them on three occasions. Can they break this trend on May 17?