IF you’re going to be undone by a controversial refereeing decision, it’s better that it happens in a game that doesn’t really matter rather than the play-offs.

Middlesbrough shouldn’t have been beaten by Carlton Morris’ penalty last night, with the Luton Town striker having thrown himself to the floor despite Zack Steffen pulling out of his challenge in the area, but the Teessiders can content themselves with the knowledge that defeat at Kenilworth Road will mean little in the grand scheme of things.

Boro were not going to catch Sheffield United anyway, and it will take a remarkable sequence of events to prevent them from finishing any lower than fourth, guaranteeing them a home second leg in the play-off semi-finals. After last night, Michael Carrick will also be feeling that his mounting injury list is not too much of a problem either.

Whereas, a month or so ago, last night’s game had looked like being a promotion shootout, for Carrick at least, the reality of being unable to finish in the top two meant the priority had shifted to avoiding as many risks as possible ahead of the play-offs.

Boro’s starting line-up contained just five players who were featuring in Carrick’s established first-choice side for much of the second half of the season, and one of those – Jonny Howson – was playing out of position as a makeshift centre-half. With Chuba Akpom and Hayden Hackney unused substitutes, this was definitely a case of having bigger priorities just around the corner.

It was also an opportunity for some of the Teessiders’ fringe players to stake a claim for more involvement in those bigger games to come, and in the main, the likes of Alex Mowatt, Dan Barlaser, Marc Bola and Isaiah Jones made a decent fist of reminding Carrick of their qualities.

Bola, playing in a wide-attacking role on the left, started brightly, although he perhaps faded as the game went on, while Jones, on the opposite flank, showed the same enthusiasm and intent he had displayed as he came in from the cold as a substitute against Hull last week.

Matt Crooks is another player who will be hoping to force his way into a starting spot in the play-offs, and having impressed throughout the first half as he slotted seamlessly into Akpom’s ‘number ten’ role, the midfielder played the pass of the night to set up his side’s 40th-minute opener.

From just inside his own half, Crooks floated an inch-perfect through ball behind the Luton defence, enabling Cameron Archer to advance towards the penalty area. Luton goalkeeper Ethan Horvath left his line to try to clear, but Archer got to the ball ahead of him, and after nicking it past the American, who was named in his nation’s World Cup squad ahead of Steffen last autumn, Boro’s number ten was able to roll into an empty net.

The goal capped a fine first-half display from the visitors that had also seen Crooks go close with a first-time effort that flew over the top following a pull-back from Jones.

Luton had barely threatened before the interval, with their best opportunity coming to nothing when Elijah Adebayo drilled a shot straight at Steffen, but the Hatters equalised in surprisingly simple fashion four minutes into the second half.

Boro’s defence failed to deal with a corner that was swung over from the left-hand side, and Tom Lockyer was able to get across Bola to power home a header from the edge of the six-yard box.

Boro almost produced an immediate response as Crooks fired a first-time effort just wide of the post after Ryan Giles pulled the ball back from the byline, but the visitors were undone in controversial fashion midway through the second half.

Steffen looked to have stopped himself as he slid out to meet Morris, who had broken into the area, but the Luton striker went down even though the contact from the Boro goalkeeper looked to have been non-existent. Referee Graham Scott nevertheless awarded a penalty, and Morris stepped up to score.