Frank Lampard makes play-off admission as Coventry City players ‘very clear’ as they face biggest game yet

Frank Lampard insists his Coventry City players are “very clear” as to the challenge they face as the club prepares for their biggest game of the season.

Victory for the Sky Blues over Middlesbrough at the CBS Arena on Saturday (12.30) would see them book their place in the Championship play-offs and be potentially three games away from promotion to the Premier League.

The squad has come a long way since the end of November when the 46-year-old was first appointed, taking over with the team 17th in the league, just two points off the bottom three. Back then in his first press conference Lampard was asked whether a top six finish was a possibility, to which he didn’t rule it out.

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“Yeah, and that’s been the ride that we’ve been on,” said the head coach, ahead of the last match of the regular campaign. “At that point I wasn’t sure. I think to be in 17th and claim you were going to make the play-offs would have been a big stretch. Did I believe it? Probably not, in terms of I’m experienced enough to know there’s a lot of work to be done and there’s a reason why you’re 17.

“You want to move up the table and it will be step by step is, I think, kind of how I put it. So we’ve made steps and now we’ve given ourselves an opportunity, which is great. But clearly, the job isn’t done yet.”

Asked if he’s treating this game almost as a play-off, he said: “Well there’s no point in hiding what’s on the game. It’s very clear, it’s in our hands but it’s a really tough match. So we just have to focus absolutely on the opponent and what we want to do, as we do every week, and keep a pretty clear head going into the game.”

A win guarantees City extend their season while a draw might, depending on other results. So does that complicate things?

“It may do,” he admitted. “There will be different permutations on the day so we’ll have to be aware of that because there’s a lot that can change.”

As for whether the fact that Boro have to win to make the play-offs at City’s expense is a good thing because they’re not likely to come and park the bus, Lampard said: “I don’t know. It’s 90 plus minutes of football and there are plenty of ways to try and win a football match.

“We know Middlesbrough’s style, we know how they generally play. They’re a good team who have been up and around it all season so who knows how it’ll affect them. We have to concentrate on what they are, what we feel they will be, the individuals in their team, their collective and their ideas.

“You would think that not many things will change from what they do a lot because they’re a good team and Michael’s (Carrick) been there a while and he’s got a style of how he wants to play. We’ll just have to manage the game as it goes on because of what’s on it. It is a knockout game, in effect.”

Asked if he’s confident his players will cope with the occasion with another big atmosphere from a sell-out home crowd, he said: “Yeah, hopefully, because what they’ve shown me since I’ve been here at the CBS and in other games is a way of handling big games. This is the biggest one yet but that’s a good thing because we’re here and we didn’t know we would be here.

“We’ve got some young players and hopefully the freshness and the youth there can keep them quite free going into it and enjoying the challenge as opposed to being overwhelmed by the task. That would be my message because, as I say, it’s easier to say when you come from where we have come from. So let’s see what we can do.”

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