Key points from Middlesbrough's play-off defeat to Coventry City

Gustavo Hamer’s second-half strike settled things, sending Coventry through to a Wembley final against Luton Town.

For Boro, however, it was a case of what might have been, with Michael Carrick’s side coming up short on their biggest night of the season.

What were the main talking points on a bad night at the Riverside?

BORO’S ATTACK FALLS FLAT

Prior to this evening, Middlesbrough had scored in every home game they had played under Michael Carrick. What a night to choose for that to change.

In truth, Boro never really looked like scoring, and having been so free-flowing for much of the spring, Carrick will surely have to reflect on the final three games of the season and ask himself whether his changes and subsequent poor run of results affected his side’s attacking momentum.

They looked surprisingly toothless tonight, with a weak Darragh Lenihan header in first-half stoppage time proving their only attempt on target before they finally mounted a late flurry that proved too little, too late.

Cameron Archer was unable to break free of Coventry’s three-man central defence – when a chance finally dropped his way in the 83rd minute, he completely fluffed his kick on the edge of the six-yard box - while Chuba Akpom never looked like reproducing the kind of form that saw him end the season as the Championship’s leading scorer.

Aaron Ramsey’s pace and incision was badly missed on a night when Boro looked toothless.

GYOKERES IS THE VICTOR

There can’t be many more challenging tasks in the Championship than being a defender charged with the job of controlling Coventry striker Viktor Gyokeres.

The Swede is something of a footballing throwback, an old-fashioned number nine (who admittedly plays with the number 17 on his back) who likes nothing better than a wrestling match with an opposition defender and a charge into the 18-yard box.

Paddy McNair and Darragh Lenihan did a superb job of shackling Gyokeres in Sunday’s first leg, but last night’s tussle was markedly around. This time around, the game’s decisive battle ended with the Coventry man coming out on top.

Gyokeres’ physicality and movement caused problems all evening, and while Boro’s defenders were just about able to limit the damage for an hour or so, the Swede played a decisive role in the Sky Blues’ 57th-minute opener.

In fact, Gyokeres had threatened early on, and might well have scored himself had Zack Steffen not raced from his line after Tommy Smith’s errant eighth-minute back-pass threatened to send him clear. McNair was then forced to take one for the team just before half-time as he picked up a yellow card for dragging Gyokeres to the floor after he had been turned on the halfway line.

What Gyokeres really wanted was a chance to break clear into the 18-yard box, and that arrived just before the half-hour mark when Ryan Giles conceded possession in his own half. Gyokeres couldn’t finish the job himself after chipping past Steffen, but Gustavo Hamer was on hand to take over possession and curl a brilliant finish into the top corner.

COVENTRY’S CHANGE OF FORMATION WORKS

Mark Robins’ tactical switch from the first leg was fairly subtle, but it did the trick of denying Middlesbrough time and space in midfield.

Whereas the Sky Blues had lined up in a 3-5-2 formation at the CBS Arena on Sunday, last night the promotion of Jamie Allen to the starting XI in place of Matt Godden saw Coventry switch to a 3-4-2-1 system.

While Viktor Gyokeres was forced to play up front as a lone striker, the tweak meant Coventry had an extra player in midfield and, as a result, Alex Mowatt and Hayden Hackney struggled to get into any kind of passing rhythm.

Perhaps things would have been different had Jonny Howson been present in the Boro side as he would almost certainly have kept things ticking over. As it was, the Teessiders had to go longer than they probably would have wanted in an attempt to bypass the congested Coventry midfield.

BORO UNABLE TO CHANGE THINGS

Squad depth was supposed to be one of Boro’s key strengths this season, and Carrick has regularly praised the importance of each and every member of his squad. When it came to the crunch, though, the Teessiders simply didn’t have the options on the bench to be able to change things.

Yes, Carrick made a triple substitution nine minutes after his side fell behind to Gustavo Hamer’s opener, but the 66th-minute introduction of Isaiah Jones, Dan Barlaser and Anfernee Dijksteel was really just a case of reshuffling the same pack.

Jones replaced Marcus Forss in a like-for-like switch, Barlaser replaced Mowatt at the heart of midfield but didn’t really offer anything different, while Dijksteel came on for Tommy Smith at right wing-back and did largely the same things as the player he was replacing.

Boro desperately needed another goalscoring option, but with Rodrigo Muniz out of favour Josh Coburn unavailable following his loan spell at Bristol Rovers, Matt Crooks was the only forward on the bench.

Crooks has scored some important goals this season, but he is hardly a penalty-box predator, as underlined by the fact that it took Carrick until the 88th minute to bring him on. When the summer rebuild begins this summer, another proven centre-forward will surely have to be a priority.