"A terrible question" - Middlesbrough boss Michael Carrick hits out after Sheffield Wednesday loss | OneFootball

Carrick did not take kindly to being questioned over his belief in the Boro's squad's mental strength

Middlesbrough manager Michael Carrick seemingly snapped post-match at a journalist's line of questioning after his side were downed 2-1 at Hillsborough against Sheffield Wednesday.

Boro ideally needed a win on their travels to keep the pressure on the teams in the top six, knowing if results went their way they would be back inside the play-off spots come 5pm.

It did not pan out that way though, with a late Anthony Musaba strike giving Danny Rohl's side all three points in a match that meant nothing in terms of potentially going up or down for the Owls, but a lot in terms of Middlesbrough's own aspirations for the 2025-26 season.

Michael Carrick reacts to being questioned over Middlesbrough squad's mental strength

After going into an early lead through Finn Azaz's strike, Boro were chasing a winner for most of the second half after Josh Windass responded with an equaliser nine minutes after the interval.

But with 89 minutes on the clock, a goalmouth scramble in the Boro area saw Musaba scramble the ball home to see Wednesday take the lead for the very first time, but that wasn't to be the end of the action.

Deep into stoppage time, Delano Burgzorg saw his close-range effort stopped by Pierce Charles in-between the sticks for the Owls, and the usually clinical Tommy Conway then rattled the underside of the crossbar with the follow-up, meaning that when it was all said and done, Boro were heading back to Teesside pointless.

Having seen Coventry also defeated, it was a chance missed for Boro to win and return to the top six, and post-match head coach Carrick was clearly feeling the strain, having been questioned about whether or not he still believed that his players had the mental strength to push into the play-offs.

"Serious? Come on...I think that's a terrible question," Carrick told BBC Sport Teesside.

"Of course I have. We've come this far and we're right in the fight like that. To ask me that - it's not right."

When asked if he saw the second half collapse coming, Carrick responded: "I didn't see it coming because obviously we were doing it (the gameplan) well, and the things we spoke about we did it well.

"The first half the boys were good, had opportunities to go up, could've gone up even further. Second half - it's football. Every half's different, and we just didn't control it well enough second half, simple as that."

Questions surely have to be asked of Michael Carrick if Middlesbrough don't make play-offs

Having had the chance to go 2-0 up from the penalty spot halfway through the first half, Middlesbrough could have been cruising to a win, but they made it very difficult for themselves and ultimately paid the price.

Of course, Boro are still three points behind Coventry in the final play-off spot, and Bristol City are only a further point ahead, so with two matches remaining, both are there to be caught.

Norwich visiting the Riverside Stadium next week is a winnable clash, and that could make Boro against Coventry at the CBS Arena on the final day of the season a winner takes all for the top six, although if the former fail to get a result against the Canaries, it may not even get to that point.

Should Boro not make it after they were in a promising position around January time, then there will likely be calls for Carrick to be axed after nearly three years in the job - nowadays managers tend not to last that long for the most part, but there will be curiosity as to whether another manager can take them further.