Boro keeper Dimi Konstantopoulos wants no more play-off heartaches

The Middlesbrough goalkeeper suffered his second play-off final defeat yesterday, almost ten years to the day that he was part of the Hartlepool United side who agonisingly lost 4-2 to Sheffield Wednesday in the League One final.

Konstantopoulos had spoken before the game about the differing nature of the two finals, citing that the pressure was on Boro to gain promotion while Pools were the underdogs.

It was a point that the Greek shot-stopper reiterated after the 2-0 loss to Norwich, saying that while both defeats were “a shame”, they were “two different situations”.

After two heartaches in a decade, the 36-year-old wants no more to do with the play-offs.

“I’d rather not have a third one,” he told SportMail.“But if it comes to that then so be it.

“It’s not easy. It’s frustrating but we will pick ourselves up.

“In July we start pre-season and we try to get a step further next season.

“There are going to be people coming in in the summer so with the strength we already have we have a great opportunity to go and do better next season and hopefully get it right.”

Traffic in London prevented Boro from arriving at Wembley on time, eventually reaching the national stadium just after 2pm.Konstantopoulos was adamant that the late arrival did not affect Boro. He added: “It’s not an issue, it’s just one of those things.

“We came out for the warm-up on time.

“We didn’t start very well.

“We could have done better on the day. We tried to attack but it didn’t work out.

“But credit to the boys they gave 100 per cent.”

– CHRIS BELL