“West Brom, Norwich or Coventry” - Dom Matteo issues clear Middlesbrough play-off verdict | OneFootball

There is still plenty hope in the Middlesbrough camp that they can repeat the achievements of last season by finishing in the top six.

Michael Carrick's side have left themselves with a lot of work to do in the final five matches, but he has challenged his players to go out and win their last five matches and ruin the party for some of the other play-off hopefuls that are ahead of them.

His team are on a run of five wins and two draws in their last seven matches. This purple patch has given them a glimmer of a chance of finishing in the top six, although they are going to have to overcome an effective seven-point gap, when you factor in goal difference, in order to do so.

On the topic, Carrick told 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."

Norwich City and Coventry City both picked up huge wins over Ipswich Town and Leeds United, respectively, while West Bromwich Albion dropped points for the third game in a row against struggling teams, as they only mustered a 2-2 draw away at Stoke City.

Former Stoke, Leeds, and Blackpool player Dominic Matteo has issued his verdict on who will claim the final two play-off spots out of the four battling teams.

Dominic Matteo on the Championship play-off race

Matteo exclusively told Football League World, via William Hill, that he thinks that Michael Carrick's side haven't done enough to reach the play-offs and that their late-season form won't be enough to overcome the gap that they had left themselves.

"It’s too late this season now for Boro," said the former Scottish international. "With tough games still to come, I don’t see them having enough to challenge the likes of West Brom, Norwich or Coventry, where two out of these three teams will take the final two spots.

"Away to Hull [City] & Ipswich, followed by a home game against Leeds are all tough fixtures, and they would also need others to slip up, but I don’t see this happening as West Brom and Norwich have been more consistent this season and Coventry will also push on after their win over Leeds."

Recent form could be viewed in two different ways by Middlesbrough fans

There was an expectation from Boro fans that, after the very encouraging campaign they had last season, they would kick on and be up their fighting for promotion back to the Premier League once again. The losses of Chuba Akpom and Cameron Archer in the summer were tough to take, and even harder to replace.

Middlesbrough haven't really hit their stride until recently. If no play-off run comes of it, then this season, and the last couple of months, will be seen in two different lights. One will be that they have missed out on another good opportunity to get back to the Premier League because of their poor results earlier in the campaign. The other train of thought is that these performances, at this stage of the season, are encouraging signs for next term.

Players like Emmanuel Latte Lath, who has scored five goals in his last seven appearances for Boro, are starting to find consistency. The hope will be that they can carry this over to the next campaign, and the fear will be that this may all lead to nothing, both this season and next season.