Tees

Middlesbrough head coach Kim Hellberg is looking forward to two attacking matches with Southampton as Boro's play-off fate was confirmed.

They ended the regular season with a rollercoaster 2-2 draw at Wrexham as their automatic promotion hopes were dashed by Ipswich Town's easy win over QPR.

It all meant that the Teessiders dropped one place from fourth to fifth with the first leg of their semi-final to be played at the Riverside Stadium next Saturday (12:30 BST).

"Two very good games of football probably," Hellberg told BBC Radio Tees.

"Two attack-minded teams that want to play, want to press, two great games of football and I'm looking forward to it."

The draw in north Wales made it four games unbeaten for Boro to end the regular season with 10 goals scored in that spell.

The seven-game winless run that preceded that effectively finished off their hopes of a top-two spot, but Hellberg was pleased with how his side tried everything to get the three points against the Dragons.

"We know we had a little chance to get second, but we gave it a shot," he said.

"When the opponent tries to also be forward thinking, they become good games that we're involved in and it was a good game today.

"At half-time, we understood Ipswich were going to win the game quite easily and we gave it a push. They tried to win it, which opened up a lot of space and we should have done that much, much better.

"That was the disappointing thing today, otherwise a lot of things were very good."

Image source, Getty Images

We asked for your thoughts and predictions before the final day Championship showdown in the race for automatic promotion to the Premier League between Ipswich Town, Millwall and Middlesbrough.

To realistically finish in the top two, Boro must win and hope that Ipswich lose and Millwall fail to beat Oxford.

If the Tractor Boys draw, Kim Hellberg's side would need to win by six goals to overhaul them on goal difference - and it would also still require the Lions to not beat the U's.

Here are a selection of your responses:

Paul: We blew it a while back. Home games against weaker teams where we dropped points. Oxford and Pompey spring to mind. Those wins would've had us up.

Stephen: Big day coming up. One last roll of the dice. The Boro need three points and the others to drop points. That winless streak has cost automatic promotion. Just got to keep hoping and praying. Roll on Saturday. Up the Boro.

John: Boro have had their dip in form which has coincided with injuries to key players. The return of Whittaker, McGree, Castledine and Hackney will provide the momentum to get them up through the play-offs. They will also use the energy from the penalty decision at Ipswich and the 5-1 home win against Watford to get them over the line. Sixth time lucky to win at Wembley.

Andy: I have to say that if you asked me eight months ago, 'Would Boro be in the play-offs?' I'd have had your hand off! Retrospectively, I'd now say we have blown second place, but there's a slim chance we can do it Saturday.

Proud to support the Boro, I feel we are the best team in the mix, just that spell without a win in seven killed us. I think Ipswich deserve second place on their recent form... But who knows.

Andrew: Come on Boro! Keep up the winning momentum and we will go up. If we're lucky we'll be up with just one more win but if not we'll still go up with three more wins!

Jess: Middlesbrough have got to win. It's a tough ask at Wrexham. Not winning games they should have is probably going to cost them that automatic promotion place. But isn't it a brilliant way to finish, the fight for third place [via the play-offs]? Come on Boro!

There is a lot riding on this game for both sides when they meet on Saturday (12:30 BST).

Victory for Wrexham would give them a play-off spot unless Hull can claim victory by a bigger winning margin, while anything less could also open the door for Derby County to sneak into sixth place.

Middlesbrough already know they will at least be in the play-offs but a win might be enough to pinch the second automatic promotion place depending on the results for Ipswich and Millwall.

• This will be Wrexham's first home game against Middlesbrough in the Football League; the Red Dragons have won their first Football League home game against an opponent in seven of the past 10 occasions (D1 L2), most recently beating Ipswich 5-3 in February.

• Middlesbrough have lost both of their previous away games against Wrexham in all competitions, both in the FA Cup in 1973-74 (1-0) and 1999-00 (2-1).

• Wrexham have won their final match in each of their past four Football League seasons, their longest ever such run.

• Middlesbrough have lost their final game in three of the past five Championship seasons (W1 D1), as many as their previous 14 in the second tier beforehand (W7 D4 L3).

• Between 11 March and 22 April, Middlesbrough had 179 shots in eight Championship matches and scored just seven goals (4% conversion). In their last game against Watford, they had 20 shots and scored five goals (25%).