Middlesbrough manager Michael Carrick believes his side and Coventry will go into the second leg of their Championship play-off semi-final with a 'clean slate' after they played out a 0-0 draw at the CBS Arena.
The two teams largely cancelled each other out on a warm afternoon, with the Sky Blues unable to make home advantage count as they failed to register a shot on target. The result will make 'Boro favourites on Wednesday to reach the final at Wembley, having only lost once in the league at the Riverside Stadium since Carrick's appointment in October.
Carrick said: "We tried to come here and win the game, of course we did, but in the back of our minds we know it's one big game. It's two legs but it's effectively one big game, so you can get caught chasing in a one-off game today [because] in the moment you forget what’s next, but I thought we managed that pretty well.
