One of Arsenal’s loan success stories this season, Brooke Norton-Cuffy’s spell with Coventry City could yet end in promotion to the Premier League.
Coventry finished fifth in the Championship, setting up a play-off semi-final against fourth-place Middlesbrough.
Boro’s star man and EFL Player of the Season is former Gunner Chuba Akpom, so it’s a clash between two Arsenal academy products to reach the Wembley final.
The first leg was in Coventry, and Norton-Cuffy may feel he just about got the better of Akpom on this occasion.
Playing as a wing-back, the Arsenal loanee helped his side to keep a clean sheet, and he created a chance and had a shot blocked at the other end as well.
Yet Akpom still had his moments. After 29 goals this season, the 27-year-old is always a threat, and he had a shot saved by the Coventry goalkeeper onto the bar.
Akpom also thought he had an assist just before half-time, playing an excellent ball through for Isaiah Jones to finish. But Jones had strayed marginally offside. The match finished 0-0.
Coventry had also drawn with Middlesbrough in the final game of the regular league season, with the two sides playing out a 1-1 draw at the Riverside Stadium.
They’ll each be hoping to turn that result into a win when they meet for the third time in a row, for the semi-final second leg, on Wednesday, 17th May at 20:00 BST.
The winner will face either Sunderland or Luton Town in the play-off final, with Sunderland 2-1 up after the first leg.
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