Middlesbrough defender Darragh Lenihan is refusing to get ahead of himself as he attempts to move a step closer to his childhood dream.
The 29-year-old Republic of Ireland international and his team-mates head into the first leg of their Sky Bet Championship play-off semi-final with Coventry on Sunday knowing they could be just three games away from the Premier League.
Head coach Michael Carrick has told his players that they cannot afford to look any further ahead than the 90 minutes at the Coventry Building Society Arena, but Lenihan is well aware of what is at stake.
Asked what it would mean to have the chance to play in the Premier League, he said: “It’s every kid’s dream. I haven’t played, personally, in the Premier League myself. A few of the lads in the team have.
“Personally for me, it would be exceptional, it would be great not only for the players, but for the town, for the fans.
“That’s what we do it for at the end of the day, but we’ll only be focusing on Coventry on Sunday.”
Boro, who finished fourth in the final table, one place and five points better off than Coventry, are looking to end a six-year exile from the top flight with either derby rivals Sunderland or Luton awaiting the winners at Wembley.
Former Manchester United midfielder Carrick played in Champions League, Europa League, FA and League Cup finals as well as title deciders during his trophy-laden spell at Old Trafford and, as a result, has huge experience of big games and how to prepare for them.
On the message the 41-year-old had been drilling into his players this week, Lenihan said: “It’s just another game, it’s just another game, just go and show what you can do, do what he’s asked in terms of tactics and what not, and go and enjoy it.
“That’s one thing he’s always said since day one. The first meeting, he just said, ‘enjoy the game, enjoy playing football, enjoy taking the ball and passing the ball’. That’s what we’ll try to do and see where it takes us.”
Carrick, who guided an injury-hit side to a 1-1 draw with the Sky Blues in their final regular-season fixture on Monday, was coy when asked if the likes of Dael Fry, Jonny Howson, Marcus Forss and Aaron Ramsey might return.
He said: “We’re just waiting. We’ll train tomorrow, so we’ll see what’s available. It’s one of those things: some boys aren’t fit, some boys are fit.
“It’s changing by the day in some ways, so we’ll just have to see what we’ve got tomorrow and go with it, and hopefully more come through than don’t.”
Real Madrid hit Twente for seven, five-star Wolfsburg also win big
Real Madrid had six different goalscorers as they trounced Twente 7-0 in the Women's Champions League on Wednesday, while Wolfsburg beat Galatasaray 5-0.
Signe Bruun opened the scoring three minutes into the Group B encounter at the Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano, then Maria Mendez's header gave Madrid a 2-0 half-time lead.
Madrid, who had won one and lost one of their opening two games in the tournament, got a third through Naomie Feller five minutes into the second half, then Caroline Weir made it 4-0 with a brilliant free-kick.
Mendez headed home her second of the encounter shortly after the hour mark, while Oihane Hernandez and Carla Camacho got on the scoresheet late on to complete the rout.
The victory took Madrid second in the Group B standings ahead of Chelsea's trip to Celtic.
Wolfsburg were also convincing victors in Group A, getting off the mark for this season's competition as Rebecka Blomqvist scored a hat-trick in their 5-0 thrashing of Galatasaray.
The Bundesliga side – who failed to pick up a point or score a goal in their opening two matches – had a narrow 1-0 lead at half-time through Joelle Wedemeyer, before Blomqvist took centre-stage in the second period.
She tapped home after Janina Minge struck the crossbar, then added her second goal in the 77th minute and her third six minutes into stoppage time.
Vivien Endemann powered home a fifth for Wolfsburg one minute later, as they provisionally moved within three points of Lyon and Roma ahead of their meeting.
Taylor pleased with City's physical test during Hammarby win
Manchester City head coach Gareth Taylor was pleased with how his team stood up to the physical challenge of Hammarby in their 2-0 Champions League victory on Tuesday.
City's win extended their unbeaten start to the season, having won every game in all competitions following a 2-2 draw against Arsenal on opening day.
“Difficult game for us, physical challenge, a physical team in Hammarby. I think they outnumber us a little bit in terms of size, considering when you look at our midfield. But I thought the girls handled it really well," Taylor said after the game
“I thought we dominated the game. In the early parts we were just a little bit off in our final action. We just needed to speed up a little bit in terms of being on the end of it, and we spoke about that at half-time, and we score with Laura getting into that type of position we’d been talking about.
“[The physicality was something] we were prepared for, but dealing with it is a different thing. Having Bunny [Khadija Shaw] and Alanna [Kennedy] on the pitch, two of our more physical players, is really important, particularly for set-plays.
“At 1-0 we were defending a couple of scenarios like that, Yama [Ayaka Yamashita] making a really good save at one point. Then Aoba [Fujino] got the goal that maybe allowed us to change things up a little bit more, get some people off that we’d like to manage.
“I think the girls have dealt with it really well tonight. We expected it, we thought it would be difficult, and they rose to the challenge.”
The victory leaves City top of their Champions League group with a 100% record after three matches, three points above second-placed Barcelona.
Taylor had made changes to City's starting XI, with Lauren Hemp among the trio to drop out from the weekend and she did not feature in the squad. Ahead of their weekend game against Chelsea, who are second in the WSL, Taylor explained the reasoning behind Hemp's absence.
“We’ve just got an issue with Lauren that we just need to analyse a little bit further, that’s all," he said.
“It’s something that potentially happened in the Palace game [on 3 November]. She was able to play in the Tottenham game [last Friday] but wasn’t able to tonight, so we’ll just take a little bit longer to assess and find out more.
“Hopefully [she can play against Chelsea]. There’s an opportunity there, we’ll just have to take a moment tomorrow, have a good conversation and find out where we’re at with the medical staff.”
Campbell gives Sheffield United victory in Steel City derby, Rodriguez strikes late for Burnley
Sheffield United joined leaders Sunderland at the top of the Championship table after a hard-fought 1-0 win against local rivals Sheffield Wednesday.
After a goalless first half, Tyrese Campbell latched onto a pass from Callum O'Hare and slotted past Wednesday goalkeeper James Beadle for the winner five minutes into the second period.
This was the Blades' sixth consecutive clean sheet at Bramall Lane and their fourth straight win home or away, and sees them go level with Sunderland on 31 points from 15 matches.
Meanwhile, Burnley are four points behind the top two after they snatched a last-gasp 1-0 victory against visitors Swansea City.
Jay Rodriguez's stoppage-time penalty secured the points for the Clarets at Turf Moor, ending their four-match winless run and climbing to fourth in the table.
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