Jeers of limp into

THE full-time scenes at the Riverside on Saturday told a story. Middlesbrough's season will come down to a final day shoot-out at Coventry City, but it hardly felt that way.

- By CRAIG JOHNS

Though the result of that game won't guarantee either side a play-off spot any more, the victor will stand a very good chance of being in a top-six spot when all is said and done.

And yet, tell a neutral at the Riverside on Saturday that Boro still had a chance of achieving their season-goal of reaching the play-offs and they would have laughed at you.

As the full-time whistle went for the final home game of the season, confirming a 0-0 draw against Norwich City, half of the stadium had already left. The others vented and booed. A mixture of apathy and frustration, and who can blame them?

The boos continued throughout the customary lap of appreciation from players and coaching staff. It was a sorry scene of a club that looked more like one in disarray than heading into the final day of the season with all still to play for. It told its own story about not just the disappointment of that one performance, but the season as a whole.

Wildly inconsistent in the first half of the campaign and failing to take full advantage of the quality they had in their squad, they then lost Emmanuel Latte Lath to Atlanta United and Ben Doak to injury in January. They've battled through enough games to leave themselves still, just about, in the play-off picture. But they've not been convincing.