The only thing consistent about Boro is their inconsistency

AFTER yet another day of Middlesbrough frustration, Michael Carrick looked flabbergasted with the response. “How could you be anything but positive?” he questioned, after the defeat to Sheffield Wednesday.

- By CRAIG JOHNS

Quite frankly, positivity is in short supply on Teesside.

In what proved to be a massive missed opportunity for Boro as far as their play-off aspirations are concerned, Boro feel so near and yet so far.

Immense frustration and a lack of positivity is about far more than Sheffield Wednesday. This was just the latest in a long line of Boro disappointments that leaves little evidence for hope or promise.

“Nothing’s changed,” Carrick argued. But that was precisely the problem. In producing yet another second-half collapse, Boro missed a glorious opportunity to move into the top six with just two games remaining.

And as far as how Boro lost at Hillsborough, it was another all too familiar story.

Nothing does seem to change.

We could sit and analyse the game to the nth degree, but we'd only be revisiting the same old ground. Not managing a game well, not being ruthless enough to kill it off and then not reacting well when the opponents upped the ante, this was just the latest example of Boro’s shortcomings that leave very few with much optimism.

In many ways, Carrick staying upbeat and delivering the positive message is understandable. Despite the above, Boro are still well in the race for the play-offs with two games remaining. Given they go to Coventry on the final day, their fate remains in their own hands.