Ally McCoist: Millwall can make you look ‘a mug’ in Boro & Ipswich Town promotion race | OneFootball

The Good Friday match between Middlesbrough & Millwall could go a long way towards deciding who'll be promoted to the Premier League.

Coventry City may have one foot in the Premier League, but the race for second place is as tight as ever and TV pundit Ally McCoist has weighed in with his views on the chasing pack.

The international break has provided a little breather before the Championship run-in, but it's straight back into action for clubs with a round of matches to be played on Good Friday. And perhaps the most important of them all will be the lunchtime kick-off between Middlesbrough and Millwall at The Riverside Stadium.

Middlesbrough went into the break in second place in the table, on 71 points, two points ahead of Ipswich Town and Millwall, who have 69 each. Ipswich have a game in hand on Boro, while Millwall have played the same number of games as them.

All three sides missed out on an opportunity in the last round of fixtures before this break, with Ipswich and Millwall cancelling each other out with a 1-1 draw at Portman Road, while Middlesbrough could only manage a goalless draw away to struggling Blackburn Rovers.

Ally McCoist feels that Millwall can't be written off, but also confirms his affection for Middlesbrough

Speaking to TalksportBet and reported by Teesside Live, the former Scotland striker turned TV pundit Ally McCoist has turned his attention to the race at the top of the Championship, admitting: "I'm in a kind of no-lose situation here because I love Boro," he also doesn't feel that Millwall can be ruled out. "You'd be a mug to rule Millwall out, by the way," he told them. "They're obviously sitting on the same points as Ipswich."

Although sitting on the same number of points as Ipswich and just two points behind Middlesbrough, Millwall remain the outsiders of the three to secure that second automatic promotion place. Ipswich would leapfrog Middlesbrough were they to win their game in hand, while Millwall remain two points off an automatic promotion place.

Millwall are the underdogs of the three clubs chasing second Championship promotion place

But the position at the top of the table could alter dramatically by the end of Good Friday, with Millwall making the trip to Teesside for their crucial clash with Middlesbrough for a 12.30 kick-off.

Both teams may have been grateful for the timing of the international break, having slipped a little over the couple of weeks prior to it. Middlesbrough have been wobbling in the League for a little while, with a run of just two wins from their last eight matches. Furthermore, their last three games before the break saw them pick up just two points from clashes with Bristol City, Charlton Athletic and Blackburn Rovers, who are 16th, 18th and 19th in the table respectively.

Millwall, meanwhile, dropped five points from their final two games before the international break, with their draw at Ipswich having been preceded by a surprise 2-1 home defeat against Blackburn Rovers. And they remain the underdogs of this chasing three, with Ipswich having had the huge advantage of Premier League parachute payments and Middlesbrough being able to attract crowds of over 27,000 to The Riverside Stadium this season.

With Ipswich not playing on Friday, a win on Friday lunchtime would put Millwall second in the Championship table with six games to play, keeping the pressure on Middlesbrough and Ipswich to keep winning in order to stay in touch. They may be underdogs of the three to secure a promotion place as teams return from the international break, but that could all change very quickly, at the top of a division which has been unpredictable all season.