Michael Carrick reserved over Middlesbrough's play-off advantage against Coventry City

Carrick takes charge of his first play-off game this lunchtime as Boro travel to the CBS Arena to take on Coventry City before the return leg at the Riverside in three days time.

Boro earned home advantage for the second leg of the semi-final by finishing fourth in the Championship table but Carrick does not necessarily believe it is an advantage for his side with both teams looking to make it to Wembley for a shot at returning to the Premier League.

"I don’t know if it’s an advantage to be honest,” Carrick told BBC Radio Tees.

"It’s two games. We both play one home game and we both play one away. At this stage football is football.

"We’ll be approaching the away game as we would if it were a home game. We’ll obviously have incredible support travelling with us and we’ll look forward to hopefully producing something for them and coming back home and having a full Riverside cheering us on will be fantastic.

"But it comes down to the two games. You don’t get any more points or anything like that. A goal is a goal whether it’s home or away and we’ll approach it as though it’s one big game if you like.

"It is [cup football],” he added.

"Its irrelevant who’s come from where. In some ways where we came from in that period of time [this season] it’s very similar [to Coventry]. You can take confidence from that. Both teams can.

"They’re on a fantastic run of form and they’re a very good team. But when it comes to it, this is it. Points or whatever you’ve earned so far doesn’t count for anything. It’s about the two games and being ready and performing at the right time.”

Carrick suggested he would not have a fully fit squad to choose from for the trip to the West Midlands but did hold out some, slight, hope of a potential injury boost for today’s first leg.

The two sides met on the final day of the regular Championship season just six days ago where Cameron Archer cancelled out Gustavo Hamer’s opener as it ended all square at the Riverside.

Boro’s form has been patchy heading into the play-offs, without a win in three.

And although Carrick has been keen to play down any suggestions of a drop off from his team, the Boro boss does acknowledge how form can impact things in the play-offs.

"We’ve seen it quite a lot over the years in the league in both ways. Momentum, whether its with you or you haven’t got it, can affect teams greatly,” he said.

"Look at Nottingham Forest last season and plenty of teams before that have shown it’s possible.

"Luckily enough we’ve had it going for us in the right way most of the time and it’s important we take that into what’s ahead.

“These next two games will have a different feel about them, probably a different intensity and a slightly different atmosphere. That’s only natural.

"That’s kind of the beauty of the games that they are and that’s part of what you’ve got to deal with.”