Middlesbrough FC 1 Coventry City 1: Boro handed ample food for thought ahead of quick reunion with Sky Blues

Home supporters wore jerseys made famous by the likes of Juninho, Fabrizio Ravanelli, Bernie Slaven and Graeme Souness.

For Middlesbrough and Coventry, founder members of the Premier League three decades ago, there is a collective desire to rewind the clock to their halcyon days in the big time. A whole new ball game.

Yet to show how far they have travelled this season, you only have to go slightly back in time to the reverse fixture in October.

The Sky Blues, then propping up the Championship table, won 1-0 to secure their first league win of 2022-23 against a Boro side who were providing some company in the bottom three.

Just over seven months on and they are potentially three games away from a top-flight return following a wonderful turnaround at both these clubs. Two of which will be against each other, with those upwardly-mobile pair led so admirably by Michael Carrick and Mark Robins to meet again in the play-offs.

It should be a fair fight and one to savour, with the first instalment being in Warwickshire on Sunday - with the return on May 17. This was a nice hors d'oeuvre.

Coventry's wait for a first ever Riverside victory goes on. But they will recall this day on Teesside with fondness.

They looked the part in the first half and while they got a bit nervy in the second half with some madcap events happening elsewhere, the Midlanders got the point they required for play-off participation and there was a post-match love-in between their players and fans at the final whistle.

For a fair stage of the second half, there was the potential for Boro to bump into big rivals Sunderland should they have scored a winning goal. They could meet at Wembley instead, although that's some way off yet. Plenty could happen before then and no doubt will.

As for who secured the moral victory ahead of Boro's play-off reunion with Coventry, then you have to sway towards the latter.

For the overwhelming majority of the first half, Coventry displayed conclusive evidence as to why they looked to be a team to avoid in the semis.

Boro deservedly trailed. A late flattering twist changed the narrative.

The otherwise immaculate Gustavo Hamer blotted his copybook by switching off from a short corner.

Riley McGree supplied Alex Mowatt. His low shot was blocked by Callum Doyle and the lurking Cameron Archer, hitherto anonymous, did what all good strikers do. He gobbled up the loose ball and fired home from a short range.

Tellingly, he didn’t celebrate and neither did Carrick - with both perhaps conscious that it was a very flattering equaliser.

Six unbeaten and boasting no away defeat since February 3, Coventry looked the part before that. One of the Championship's real class acts in Hamer scored a confident opener, while Viktor Gyokeres - wanted by Boro last summer - eclipsed Chuba Akpom on the day.

For the first time in ten home league matches, Akpom failed to score. The 30-goal milestone must wait, but there's time yet.

Boro picked a strong side, but the calmness of Jonny Howson was missed in the first half. Fortunately, as the game went on, Riley McGree and Darragh Lenihan were among those to step up.

Zack Steffen kept out an early drive from Hamer after Hayden Hackney's error, but the Brazilian was not to be denied.

Boro lost the ball on their right and Josh Eccles swept the ball crossfield to Hamer. With Boro stretched, he tried to play a give-and-go with Gyokeres and the ball broke kindly for him and he drilled the ball home.

It was no more than Coventry warranted, with Boro sloppy and careless in comparison.

Then, things changed moments before the interval, thanks to Archer's 11th of the campaign.

It gave Boro oxygen and they were better on the resumption. Coventry got edgy before regrouping and they saw the game out comfortably enough. Now for a two-game sequel.

Middlesbrough: Steffen, Smith (Fisher 90+3), McNair, Lenihan, Giles; Hackney, Mowatt (Barlaser 65); Jones (Finch 90+3), Akpom, McGree; Archer (Crooks 76). Substitutes unused: Roberts, Barlaser, Muniz, Bola.

Coventry City: Wilson; McNally, McFadzean, Doyle; Norton-Cuffy, Kelly, Eccles (Allen 81), Hamer, Bidwell; Godden, Gyokeres. Substitutes unused: Moore, Panzo, Wilson-Esbrand, Sheaf, Walker, Dabo.

Referee: J Busby (Oxon).

Attendance: 32,137.