Rob Edwards said his Luton team deserved their Sky Bet Championship play-off victory over Sunderland.

The Hatters won 2-0 on Tuesday, overcoming a 2-1 first-leg deficit to progress 3-2 on aggregate amid joyous scenes at Kenilworth Road.

Defenders Gabe Osho and Tom Lockyer got the first-half goals which turned the tie around and left Edwards full of pride.

He said: “I thought over the two games we deserved it.

“They (Sunderland) had their moments and they’ve got some really good players.

“We could have been better (on Saturday), they won the game but we limited them to few chances there. But tonight we were exceptional.

“We’ve got to stick to what we’re good at and we did that tonight. I’m so pleased for the supporters and everyone at the club.

“To do it here (Kenilworth Road) is really special. We knew where our advantages lay, we scored a couple of good goals but I think we could have had a lot more as well. It was a really strong performance.”

The Hatters can look forward to a Wembley showdown against Coventry or Middlesbrough on May 27, with a place in the Premier League the prize to the winner.

Luton have not played top-flight football since 1992 and Edwards continued: “It wasn’t about us doing a job on Sunderland, it was about us being really good.

“We limited them to shots from distance, one save Ethan (Horvath) made over the 94 minutes.”

Sunderland boss Tony Mowbray was frustrated a season of such promise ended in defeat.

The Black Cats were promoted to the Championship via the play-offs last May and Mowbray said: “I’m frustrated but very proud of the players, the team and the city of Sunderland. We’ll get stronger and we’ll be back next season.

“I’ve only been here nine months and these players have given everything they’ve got.

“I’m proud of these young lads who week in, week out have given what they’ve got.

“We came out of League One and maybe consolidation is what people were thinking about.

“We’ve managed to punch above mediocrity. We’ve come close but unfortunately we’ve fallen short tonight.

“I think the league will be stronger next season. We have to keep building and growing and get better.”

Mowbray acknowledged that his quest for a second successive promotion was not helped by injuries.

“We’ve had huge losses of some very, very important footballers,” he said. (Captain) Corry Evans, the centre-forward who scores all the goals (Ross Stewart) and three centre-halves.

“They’ve performed really well and I’m proud of them.”

Luton booked a place in the Sky Bet Championship play-off final with a 2-0 win over Sunderland.

The Hatters delighted a noisy crowd at Kenilworth Road as first-half goals from defenders Gabe Osho and Tom Lockyer gave them victory over the Wearsiders.

It proved enough for Rob Edwards’ team to overcome a 2-1 first-leg deficit and seal a 3-2 aggregate success.

A Wembley final against Coventry or Middlesbrough awaits on May 27, with Luton targeting a return to English top-flight football after a 31-year absence.

The Hatters got the breakthrough they needed in the 10th minute when Osho tapped home from close range after the visitors failed to clear a Jordan Clark corner.

Sunderland came close to an equaliser three minutes later when Pierre Ekwah saw a flicked effort from Patrick Roberts’ corner saved by Ethan Horvath. The midfielder was sharpest to the rebound but his effort struck the woodwork and penalty appeals from the visitors came to nothing.

Luton came close to a second in the 22nd minute when Luke O’Nien cleared a Carlton Morris effort off the line after Anthony Patterson failed to hold Alfie Doughty’s cross.

The home side threatened again when Morris drew a full-length save from Patterson, who was relieved to see Lockyer’s header drop just wide of his post seconds later.

Morris fired just wide in the 38th minute following good work by Elijah Adebayo as the hosts sought to go ahead in the tie.

They did just that five minutes later when Lockyer took advantage of space to head Doughty’s cross past Patterson.

Morris had a great chance to make it 3-0 within 30 seconds of the restart when Patterson miskicked the ball to him, but the striker blazed over.

This was proving a game too far for a Sunderland side ravaged by injury, particularly in defence, in the closing stages of the campaign – although Aji Alese returned from injury as the game’s first substitute in the 58th minute.

The contest was becoming stretched and Alese produced a timely challenge soon after to deny Adebayo as he lined up a shot, before Roberts rounded off a promising run with a weak shot wide.

The same player fired over with 14 minutes remaining as the Black Cats, who finished 11 points behind their opponents, sought to take the game to extra time.

But they rarely looked like doing so, with Luton’s Cody Drameh the closest to scoring in the closing stages, firing wide of an empty goal in added time after Patterson had come up for a corner.

The final whistle signalled joyous celebrations from the majority of the 10,013 crowd, including a large-scale pitch invasion.

Nottingham Forest have been fined over the pitch invasion at the end of their Championship play-off semi-final against Sheffield United almost a year ago.

A Forest fan was jailed after headbutting Blades striker Billy Sharp during the incident at the end of the second leg at the City Ground on May 17 last year, while Sheffield United’s Oli McBurnie was cleared last December of stamping on another pitch-invading Forest fan.

The Football Association had charged Forest with failing to ensure their supporters conducted themselves in an orderly fashion and refrained from using threatening or violent behaviour while encroaching onto the pitch following the final whistle.

The charge was partially admitted by Forest, and a £50,000 fine was imposed by an independent regulatory commission. The FA said half of the fine had been suspended by the panel until the end of next season, provided there were no further breaches of FA rule E20.

Cardiff have confirmed manager Sabri Lamouchi will leave the club when his contract expires.

Former Nottingham Forest boss Lamouchi agreed a deal until the end of the season when he replaced Mark Hudson in January to become the Sky Bet Championship club’s third manager of the 2022-23 campaign.

A club statement read: “Cardiff City Football Club can confirm that Sabri Lamouchi will depart at the conclusion of his current deal.

“Sabri joined the Bluebirds at the end of January 2023, overseeing 18 fixtures, and winning six matches.”

Cardiff added: “The Board of Directors at Cardiff City FC have already begun the process of appointing a new management team.”

The Bluebirds sat one place above the relegation zone after a nine-game winless league run when Lamouchi replaced Mark Hudson.

That winless sequence was extended to 12 matches before back-to-back wins boosted their survival chances and they finished the season in the same position, five points above the bottom three.

Cardiff sacked former manager Steve Morison in September after three wins from their opening 10 league games and Hudson stepped in as interim manager.

Coventry boss Mark Robins moved to pile the pressure on Middlesbrough ahead of their crunch play-off semi-final second leg.

The Sky Blues go to the Riverside on Wednesday locked at 0-0 from Sunday’s first leg.

Boro finished fourth in the Championship, five points and a place ahead of Coventry, and at the Riverside Robins feels Michael Carrick’s side hold the advantage.

He said: “They’re the favourites to go through so the pressure is on them. There’s no doubt about it. We’ll go out there and really give a good account of ourselves.

“For us, it’s about our preparation and what we can do. The betting companies have made them favourites to win promotion. So, by definition, that makes us least favourites so it is what it is. We just go and deal with what we’ve got in front of us.”

Coventry were not expected to make the play-offs this season, especially after playing seven of their first nine games away from home following the Rugby Sevens at the Commonwealth Games destroying the CBS Arena pitch.

Robins recognises their progress this term but still wants the glory at the end.

“It’s not really a great time to reflect because that time will be whenever this season comes to an end and we can sit back and have a look,” said the manager, who could be without Gustavo Hamer after he suffered a knee injury in the first leg.

“I say sit back, we’re not because we’ve got a busy period of recruitment coming up.

“Regardless of anything, I was asked at the start this season what success would look like and for us, really, you talk about finishing in the Championship, whatever happens.

“If you’re in the Championship it always gives you a chance of doing what we’ve done so far this season.

“Our season was blighted at the start with well-known factors and one of our players (Dominic Hyam to Blackburn) was sold early on which made things very difficult for us.

“Regardless of what happened, the players have responded unbelievably well to get us to this point so they’ve earned the right to go head-to-head against Middlesbrough.

“Whatever happens, yes, it’s been a brilliant progression for us but ultimately you want to try and come out successfully at the other end.”

Wigan’s owners say they have now paid all their players and non-playing staff their wages for this month, with chairman Talal Al Hammad apologising for the stress the delay had caused.

The Latics’ players were given a day off training earlier this month amid the latest hold-up, with Wigan having not paid players or staff on time on four previous occasions this season.

Those delays resulted in a three-point deduction by the English Football League for breaching an agreement made in January, when the club accepted a suspended penalty.

The club, who have been relegated from the Championship, issued a fresh statement on Tuesday, accepting investment had not been directed to “the right areas” and promising a board and staff restructure.

“All remaining playing and non-playing staff have now been paid,” the club’s statement began.

“The ownership group, Phoenix 2021 Limited, has committed a substantial seven-figure sum to Wigan Athletic to secure the immediate future of the club. The EFL has visibility of this amount.

“Phoenix 2021 Limited, under the ownership of Mr Abdulrahman Al Jasmi and Wigan Athletic FC chairman Talal Al Hammad, insist they are fully committed to the club.”

Al Hammad added: “I firstly want to apologise again to all staff, players, fans and wider stakeholders for the stress this delay has caused.

“As an ownership group, we have invested well in excess of £20million since we came on board in 2021. Clearly mistakes have been made and this investment has not been spent in the right areas, meaning finances this season have been difficult to sustain.

“This latest payment will ensure our wage obligations are secured until we finalise a sustainable budget for next season.

“There will also shortly be announcements made regarding board and staff restructures which will help us deliver this.

“I finally again want to reassure all Wigan Athletic staff, players and fans that Mr Al Jasmi and I are fully committed to the club with manager Shaun Maloney at the helm.”

Phoenix completed its takeover of Wigan in March 2021, with the club having spent the previous nine months in administration.

Rob Edwards has called on Luton to play “like our lives depend on it” in Tuesday’s Sky Bet Championship play-off semi-final second leg against Sunderland.

The Hatters’ dreams of reaching the Premier League for the first time in their history suffered a setback on Saturday after Sunderland hit back from an early deficit to claim a 2-1 win at the Stadium of Light.

And Luton boss Edwards has stressed the need for his side to combine a red-hot desire with ice-cold thinking if they are to book a place in the play-off final against either Middlesbrough or Coventry at Wembley later this month.

“We have got to be calm because we need 11 players on the pitch, but we need fire and then to be ice cold in the right moments,” he said.

“We need to play with real fire and like our lives depend on it tomorrow. We don’t want this to be the end but this could be our last game of the season and we don’t want that to be the case.”

Edwards echoed that message to the Luton supporters who he believes will play a vital role in deciding the outcome of Tuesday’s clash at a sold-out Kenilworth Road.

He referenced last month’s derby victory over Watford and called for a similarly “amazing” atmosphere in order to galvanise his side’s attempted fightback.

“We want the crowd to be wild and right at it,” Edwards said.

“We’ve got to make it really difficult for them and we need our crowd to play their part in that as well. And we want to make sure we play our part and give our fans something to shout about.

“The atmosphere was amazing for the Watford game and if we can notch it up a little bit more again then that will be what I will like and what we will need as well. I think that was a great advert for Kenilworth Road for when it’s at its best.”

Luton have not played in the top flight since being relegated from the old First Division in 1992 – the year before the Premier League was launched – and they even dropped out of the Football League in the intervening period.

However, after finally escaping the Conference following a five-year exile in 2014 they have enjoyed a remarkable rise and, if they can overcome Sunderland, they would be one game away from a return to English football’s top table.

Defender Amari’i Bell, whose side were unbeaten in 14 games going into the first leg against Sunderland, said of the return meeting with the Black Cats: “I think it’s the biggest game of most of our careers.

“We’ve got to go out there and give it our all. I think everyone’s excited, looking forward to the challenge and relishing the position we’ve put ourselves in.

“The last loss was a long time ago and we forgot what it’s like to lose. It’s not something we’re used to but we know we have to bounce back and normally when that happens (lose) we do, so it’s going to be a good tie.”

Middlesbrough boss Michael Carrick will not be losing any sleep as he tries to guide his club past Coventry into the Sky Bet Championship play-off final.

Carrick and his players were woken in the early hours on Sunday morning after fireworks were set off outside the Forest of Arden hotel at which they were staying ahead of their first-leg clash with the Sky Blues at the CBS Arena.

Whether the ploy, which has been attributed to mischievous City fans, worked or not is moot after the teams fought out a 0-0 draw, and everything is still to play for in the return at the Riverside Stadium on Wednesday evening.

Asked if he was the sort of person who ever lost sleep over football matches, a relaxed Carrick said: “I’m generally a good sleeper fortunately.

“Sometimes after games…before games I sleep well – most of the time before games, I sleep well. Sometimes after games, if it’s a night game especially…

“It was a little bit worse when I was a player because there’s that little bit more adrenaline going through your system, but most of the time I sleep pretty well.”

Mark Robins and his players can expect a hostile welcome and a packed Riverside as Boro attempt to book a trip to Wembley and a showdown with either derby rivals Sunderland or Luton, with the Hatters facing a 2-1 deficit as they welcome the Black Cats to Kenilworth Road on Tuesday evening.

Asked if that reception might extend to a tit-for-tat last-night display of pyrotechnics, Carrick said: “Fireworks? I don’t know.

“As I said after the game, I had a little chuckle and went back to sleep. Fans are fans, they want to create the atmosphere.

“For me, it’s about in the stadium, the atmosphere and how the boys can feed off it. We’ll prepare and we’ll plan and we’ll go into the game exactly as we would for any other game.

“But there’s no hiding that extra adrenaline. That extra spark that the supporters inside the stadium can create for us is vital to give us that boost, and I’m sure the boys will feel it and feed off it and hopefully respond to it very well.

“But it won’t affect how we prepare for the game. That will be a natural kind of feeling that we benefit from.”

Sunderland manager Tony Mowbray admitted his side are in “good spirits” ahead of the second leg of their Championship play-off semi-final at Luton.

The Black Cats take a slender advantage into the game after securing a 2-1 win at the Stadium of Light in the first leg on Saturday.

Luton had gone ahead in the 11th minute through Elijah Adebayo’s close-range strike, but Amad Diallo curled in a stunning equaliser before Trai Hume headed them in front after the break.

“I think the team are in good spirits. I’ve said all season, we believe we can compete against anybody in the league,” Mowbray told a pre-match press conference.

“This game is against a team who finished 11 points in front of us, finished third in the league, a fantastic season Luton have had, they’ve been growing their club for the last three or four years.

“They’ve got an experienced group of players, very together, and you can feel that. I said at the last press conference, you feel their comradeship.

“I think we did amazing to come out on top in the first game and I’m not anticipating too much difference second game. It’s a tighter environment of course, if anything they might double down on what they do and how they play and we have to try and do the same.”

Sunderland will be aiming to build on their lead at Kenilworth Road on Tuesday night and Mowbray urged his side to “enjoy the challenge” of playing against the Hatters.

He added: “Obviously (we’ve) been there this season, it’s a tight ground, tight dressing room, tight tunnel, it feels a tighter pitch than the Stadium of Light.

“It’s a totally different challenge for us but one that we should look forward to and go with some confidence and enjoy the challenge of trying to play against a team that are very athletic, very physical.

“If they get their game plan right, they could give us lots of problems, of course, but we have to concentrate on what we do well and see if we can give them problems.”

There are more injury concerns for an already stretched Sunderland side, with Mowbray admitting he is unsure whether Alex Pritchard and Patrick Roberts will be involved.

Both players were withdrawn in the final 10 minutes of the first leg, but Mowbray confirmed that Aji Alese could be involved following his return to training.

“Pritchard and Roberts are touch and go, I’d suggest,” the Sunderland boss said. “They might both make it, they both might not make it, one might make it. I sit here today not really knowing.

“Alese trained today, which is good. I discussed with him maybe (being) on the bench.

“A 6ft 3ins kid who can run all day up and down, whether we get him on the pitch if they’re chasing a goal or putting it in our box, it will be good to have someone over the height of six foot in there to try and head it out.

“We’re not too far away from what we were the other day.”

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.

“It’s a clean slate for both teams, really, and we look forward to the next one.

“We know we’ve got good players at the top end of the pitch who are capable of scoring.

“Coventry defend very well and get good numbers behind the ball and close the space down very well, and they have done over two games now.

“It’s not going to be easy, of course it’s not, but at the same time we’ve got to have belief and trust and faith.”

The best chance of the game came Middlesbrough’s way after 13 minutes when Chuba Akpom’s dink was deflected onto the bar by Coventry goalkeeper Ben Wilson.

Isaiah Jones, who had a goal ruled out for a marginal offside, was also denied by Wilson in the first half before stalemate ensued after the break.

Coventry boss Mark Robins said: “It was tight, there was very little action between the goalkeepers in both penalty areas.

“Chuba Akpom probably had the best two chances of the game, one saved by Ben that loops onto the crossbar, the other wide just after half-time.

“We turned over the ball too often in the first half, but we spoke to them at half-time just to try and get ourselves a foothold and play a part with the ball because we didn’t do enough of that in the first half.

“In the second half we came into the game, we did better, we had a 15- to 20-minute period where we pinned them in a little bit, they dropped, and it was interesting to see.

“We’ll play them for the third time in just over a week on Wednesday, but we’re in it and that’s the big thing.”

There was no breakthrough in the first leg of the Championship semi-final between Coventry and Middlesbrough as the two sides played out a cagey 0-0 draw at the CBS Arena.

There were few chances over the course of the 90 minutes, with Coventry goalkeeper Ben Wilson required to make a couple of decent saves in the first half.

Frustratingly for the Sky Blues, who have waited 22 years for a chance to return to the Premier League, they could not muster a shot on target.

Michael Carrick’s side will now look to make better use of home advantage when the two sides reconvene at the Riverside Stadium on Wednesday night.

Six days on from these two teams facing each other on the final day of the regular season, the first big chance went Middlesbrough’s way after 13 minutes when Riley McGree played the ball through and Chuba Akpom’s dink deflected off Wilson and onto the bar.

The visitors were the first to settle after a scrappy opening, with Coventry unable to make many incursions into their opponents’ half.

The Sky Blues’ first effort on goal, an off-target header by captain Liam Kelly in the 28th minute, lifted the crowd but they soon had Wilson to thank again for keeping the game goalless.

Isaiah Jones found himself in behind down the right and the wing-back’s effort from a narrow angle needing turning behind by Coventry’s last line of defence.

Jones then had the ball in the net for Boro four minutes before half-time after being played through by Akpom, but the assistant’s flag had already been raised for offside.

Middlesbrough continued to make the better chances early in the second half as Akpom headed McGree’s cross narrowly wide just over a minute after the restart.

Viktor Gyokeres, Coventry’s leading scorer, had barely had a kick and his eagerness to get more involved arguably prevented Kyle McFadzean having a sight of goal from Gustavo Hamer’s corner.

Zack Steffen in the Middlesbrough goal was also underworked, with Callum Doyle’s wild effort over the bar from the edge of the box summing up the hosts’ lack of quality in the final third.

Hamer then followed suit from long range, but the Sky Blues were at least starting to impose themselves after what had been a nervy first 45 minutes from them.

Boro’s threat dissipated the longer the second half wore on, with Akpom’s increasing isolation only adding to the sense of stalemate – which to nobody’s surprise remained unbroken, meaning this tie’s decisive moment is yet to come.

Tony Mowbray has no intention of playing for a draw at Luton after Sunderland earned a hard-fought lead in the first leg of the Sky Bet Championship play-off semi-final.

The Black Cats will head for Luton on Tuesday evening with a 2-1 win under their belts, but under orders to follow it up with another victory at Kenilworth Road.

Speaking after Saturday’s game at the Stadium of Light, Mowbray said: “There were no points played for tonight. We have to go to Luton now and go and try to win the next game.

“We’ve just said to them in there, ‘We have to go and play and try to win a football match’. We won’t be protecting anything, we won’t be trying to slow the game down, we won’t be putting loads of men at the back.

“We’ll be playing our game and going to try to win.”

The Hatters forced their way in front after just 11 minutes when Elijah Adebayo stabbed home after Anthony Patterson had blocked Alfie Doughty’s shot.

However, Amad Diallo’s stunning equaliser dragged the Black Cats back into it before the break and Trai Hume headed them to victory in the second half.

Sunderland won 11 times on the road and only seven at home during the regular season, but Mowbray, who has fresh injury doubts over Alex Pritchard and Patrick Roberts, will not leave anything to chance this time around.

He said: “Nobody is taking anything for granted. We know we’ve got another huge fight on our hands on Tuesday that we need to bring our best performance to.

“But we know their threat and that they are a very good team.”

Opposite number Rob Edwards insisted the tie is still very much alive, but is well aware of the task ahead.

Edwards said: “You don’t want to be going home completely out of it – and they’re capable at this place with all these fans here as well as the players they’ve got on the pitch to go bang, bang, bang and score a few goals.

“It’s in the balance and we look forward to Tuesday. We’re well aware they’re a very good team, they’re really good individuals.

“We shouldn’t come away from how many millions people have spent on some of their players at times over the last few years, so it’s no surprise to me that they’re where they are and they’re good.

“I know they’re young, some of them, but they should be good and they are.”

Trai Hume headed Sunderland to a comeback victory over Luton to ensure they have a priceless lead to defend in the second leg of their Sky Bet Championship play-off semi-final.

Hume’s 63rd-minute effort secured a 2-1 first leg victory at a packed Stadium of Light after on-loan Manchester United midfielder Amad Diallo had cancelled out Elijah Adebayo’s early opener with a stunning strike.

It was no more than Tony Mowbray’s men deserved from a game for which they once again lined up without a recognised central defender, yet kept alive their hopes of a second successive promotion via the play-offs.

Luton, who finished 11 points better off than the Black Cats at the end of the regular season, will nevertheless feel confident they can overturn the narrowest of deficits at Kenilworth Road on Tuesday night – although they will have to do so against opponents who won 11 of their 23 fixtures on the road.

Early blows were traded as Hatters frontman Carlton Morris headed tamely into Anthony Patterson’s arms before Jack Clarke rifled a shot into the side-netting at the other end in an open start.

The visitors, who lost in the semi-finals 12 months ago, were fortunate to escape unscathed when keeper Ethan Horvath palmed Patrick Roberts’ curling attempt into the path of Joe Gelhardt, who was unable to adjust his feet quickly enough to convert the rebound.

The Hatters took advantage of the escape almost immediately.

Sunderland failed to deal with an 11th-minute corner and, after Patterson had bravely blocked Alfie Doughty’s shot at the back post, Adebayo pounced on the loose ball to score.

Momentum shifted with the goal and Adebayo might have doubled his tally with 24 minutes gone had Hume not thrown himself into the path of his goal-bound effort, and Patterson had to be alert to field Doughty’s near-post free-kick.

But Sunderland were back in it six minutes before the break when, after Pelly Mpanzu had been booked for a crude challenge on Roberts, Alex Pritchard rolled the resulting free-kick to Amad, who curled an unstoppable shot past Horvath.

Gelhardt steered Pritchard’s cross wide under pressure from Gabe Osho as the Black Cats resumed in determined fashion, although the game became increasingly scrappy with both teams guilty of turning over possession cheaply.

It was the home side who finally summoned up the quality to make a difference when Hume met Clarke’s 63-minute cross with a firm header and steered the ball into the bottom corner to spark delirious celebrations among a crowd of 46,060.

Coventry boss Mark Robins believes the Sky Blues’ unity has been crucial to their Premier League ambitions.

They host Middlesbrough in the first leg of their Championship play-off semi-final on Sunday aiming to end a 22-year exile from the top flight.

It is the first time Coventry have made the Championship play-offs since relegation in 2001, having tumbled to League Two six years ago.

Robins has guided them back to within touching distance of the top flight – despite having to play two seasons in Birmingham due to a rent dispute between 2019 and 2021.

Coventry also played seven of their opening nine league games away from the CBS Arena this season after the Commonwealth Games’ Rugby Sevens wrecked the pitch, while they were given an eviction notice in December after Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group bought the ground.

But Robins feels the solidarity at the club means the problems have been overcome.

“Every club’s got its different challenges and this one is no different,” he said.

“We’ve managed to get through them together and there’s a mantra over the last five years, certainly three years, about rising together and it can’t be truer.

“Everyone is together and the fact I’ve had Dave Boddy (chief executive) working alongside me and above me and has been fundamental to what’s happened.

“The board have given me as much as they possibly could. They’ve given me space to work and I’ve got incredibly talented people working with me too. The players have been phenomenal and they’ve bought right into things.

“It’s just a whole team effort and that’s really the biggest takeaway for me, once everything settles down and the reflection can start.”

The former Manchester United and Leicester striker also moved to take the pressure off his players.

They resume hostilities with Boro having drawn 1-1 at the Riverside Stadium on the final day of the season and finished fifth.

“It’s a learning experience, we’ve got absolutely zero to lose and everything to gain and the experience that we can gain from that is invaluable anyway,” added Robins.

“We are looking at win-win. We’ve got a big opportunity to learn and we’ve got a big opportunity to prepare for a brilliant game on Sunday.”

Michael Carrick will have no regrets that his illustrious playing career is over as he attempts to guide Middlesbrough through the biggest game of his managerial reign to date.

The 41-year-old played in Champions League and FA Cup finals and won five Premier League titles during a trophy-laden spell at Manchester United, but on Sunday will stand on the touchline at Coventry as his Boro side looks to take a significant step towards the Sky Bet Championship play-off final.

Carrick chose to launch the latest phase of his football journey in earnest when he took up the role of head coach at the Teesside club in October last year and – while the highs of his playing career remain at the forefront of his memory – he is finding the task hugely rewarding.

Asked if he would rather be pulling on his boots on Sunday, he replied with a smile: “Those days are gone.

“There are pluses and minuses comparing both. It’s incredible when you’re playing and you’re achieving and you have that sense of directly influencing a game like that and sensing the occasion.

“But certainly being in the position I am and having that influence and being able to guide and steer things in a direction I’m comfortable with can be very rewarding.”

In less than seven months under Carrick, Boro dragged themselves from 21st place to fourth and could now be just three games away from the Premier League, something which was far beyond the former England midfielder’s thinking the day he arrived at the Riverside Stadium.

However, the excitement that rise has prompted is not lost on him.

Carrick said: “I didn’t really have a target or a goal when first came in, it was more a case of trying to improve, trying to develop the team and seeing where it took us.

“To see the children coming up to me in the street and chasing me on bikes down the street when I’m trying to go for a run and that energy and excitement that they’ve got is fantastic to see, and it’s how it should be.”

Carrick started his path to a career in professional football at Boro as a schoolboy and rose to prominence at West Ham and then Tottenham.

But it was under the tutelage of then United boss Sir Alex Ferguson that he honed his skills at the elite level and the Scot, who won 38 trophies during his time at the Old Trafford helm, remains a source of help and advice.

Asked if he would speak to Ferguson in the run-up to the game, Carrick said: “Probably at some point. I speak to him quite a bit – not all the time, but quite a bit on and off.

“He’s always there if I need to speak to him and giving me little bits of help along the way.

“But it’s more of a friendship thing. It’s nice to have that ability to have somebody like that to speak to, of course it is.”