Promotion battles rarely run smoothly.
Teams shoot themselves in the foot and drop points in “gimme” games but then regain momentum with an unexpected win and the news that rivals have imploded at home to an already relegated basketcase.
We’ve been there before at Boro. We’ve had the parade and party planned before now, only to sheepishly put the bubbly back in the fridge after a traumatic reverse at home.
A generation is still traumatised by a last day defeat at home to mid-table sacrificial lambs Leicester at Ayresome Park, an archetypal “typical Boro” moment.
But, as a body of supporters, we haven’t been involved in a serious summit shoot-out for the best part of a generation and the memory of the intensity of the frantic flux has faded. We’ve forgotten.
Boro’s cultural memory in this area is dominated by the Charlton’s Champions’ procession in which the trophy engraver started work in late February and the outcome was never in doubt.
But in fact the rest of Boro’s modern elevations to the elite have been far more problematic, each with more twists and turns than a sack full of pythons.
Even the two promotions under Bryan Robson stuttered at times. After the event they felt inevitable, but both went down to the last week.
Promotion campaigns are tense affairs. Just feel the taut and fractious air around Teesside today.
Obviously you are not in charge of your own destiny and so much depends on results elsewhere as the season ends in a flurry of fixtures involving two or three or four or more equally anxious rivals.
Part of the current wave of jitters at the Riverside stems from that sense of powerlessness and the feeling that our destiny will be decided elsewhere with a slip at Vicarage Road or somewhere we hadn’t really factored in.
But much of the anxiety stems from a sense that we are stepping into a dark chasm of the unknown.
Ian Harland 
Former Boro manager and player Bryan Robson signing a shirt from the 1994-95 promotion campaign
Other clubs - Bolton, Sunderland, QPR, Hull, Leicester, Norwich, even Watford - have been up and down a dozen times between them in that time and their fans have campaign medals galore.
They are familiar with the terrain - and that of the play-off hinterland beyond - and they know the emotional demands of the last few games.
But we haven’t been in a battle like this since 1998. That is a several cycles in football. Half of the current Boro matchday mass may not even have been around then.
Culturally, psychologically, emotionally we don’t know how to react.
We’ve never even been in the current format play-offs (despite six years of trying).
We have no collective emotional coping mechanism for this - hence the yelping, sniping and fatalistic sense of impending doom.
We don’t know what to expect, what to do or how to react to the situations that may spring up over the next week or two.
There is no historical template, no folk memory.
So let’s look back at exactly where we were in the past promotions in the modern era, the ones that have shaped the experience of the various generations in the crowd.
With four games to go where exactly were Robbo’s side, Brucie’s Men Of Iron and Lennie’s Lions.
Was it all plain sailing? Or have we air-brushed from history the angst and obstacles we had to overcome along the way.
Come on, this is Boro we’re talking about. We never take the easy route.
1966-67 (DIV 3)
Run-in: W D W W
Promoted: 2nd
Boro had clawed up to fifth in Division Three ready for an unlikely late surge.
Three defeats in a row in early April had left Stan Anderson’s team well adrift but they came from behind to win at Peterborough and then beat Orient 3-1 at home and with the teams above them rocking.
Suddenly it opened up for them again.
With four to go Boro were on 48 points, one behind both Torquay and Mansfield and three behind Bristol Rovers with QPR streets ahead and while our heroes had a game in hand but it was only two points for a win and two up two down.
But roared on by the set piece support of the young loyalists of the Ayresome Angels and fired by the goals of John Hickton and John O’Rourke, Boro barged through the pack.
They took a huge step forward as they beat rivals Torquay 4-1 at home then drew 1-1 at Brighton but slipped to sixth as rivals played games in hand.
Boro were one of three teams on 51 points - Reading had joined the scrum - with Watford on 52 and Bristol Rovers on 53.
Then they beat Peterborough 2-1 in what was for most teams the last day of the season leaving them fourth, one point behind Watford in second and needing to beat Oxford at home a final rearranged fixture.
That game is of course legendary - a 4-1 win at a jammed Ayresome, the cultural touchstone of that generation of supporters.
1986-97 (Div 3)
Run-in: W W D W
Promoted: 2nd
Boro had led for most of the first half the season but had stumbled after Christmas and found themselves battling it out with Swindon and Wigan for second place behind ‘Arry’s Bournemouth.
A 3-0 win over fifth-placed Gillingham left them three point clear of the Robins with four to go.
The run in was far from a procession though as they edged past Chester 2-1 away with a second half Gary Hamilton winner then spluttered to a nervy 1-0 win over bus-parking Mansfield while elsewhere Swindon could only draw with the Gills.
That left Boro to clinch promotion with a goalless draw at home to Wigan in a game they dominated.
The final game was a party and mass pitch invasion at Doncaster.
1987-88 (Div 2)
Run-in: L W W L
Promoted: via play-offs
Bruce Rioch’s side had been in an automatic spot for month but almost blew it at the death.
With four game to go they were second, one point behind Millwall but with Blackburn, early leaders Aston Villa and Bradford all within one win of catching them.
1988: Boro fans celebrate after winning second successive promotion
But then it all went wrong as Boro were battered 4-0 at Ipswich while Villa and the Bantams won to leapfrog them.
It swung back their way with three-goal wins at home to Plymouth then away to Burnley as their closest rivals dropped points in draws.
Boro went into the final game on 78 points, one ahead, but they froze at home to mid-table Leicester and in front of the biggest crowd of the season and with the champagne on ice, they leaked goals early in each half and never looked likely to claw back into the game.
That threw them into the play-offs and after a two-legged win over Braford they squeezed into the top flight at the expense of Chelsea via the Battle of Stamford Bridge.
1991-92 (Div 2)
Run-in: L W W W
Promoted: 2nd
Boro had started the season well and were leading until November but gradually slipped to become fringe figures in the promotion pack.
But a little flourish of three wins pushed them back into contention and with four games to go they were third, three points behind Leicester in second but with Cambridge and Derby right behind.
Then... D’oh! There was a ‘typical Boro’ moment as Lennie’s side slipped to a 1-0 defeat at basement battlers Sunderland - Peter bloody Davenport! - while all their rivals won.
Boro clawed back with edgy home wins over Bristol Rovers and Grimsby then went to mid-table Wolves on the final day in second and ahead of Leicester on goal difference and with Derby just two points behind and needing to win.
Naturally they made it hard for themselves by going a goal behind and having Nicky Mohan sent off before a late rally and goals from Jon Gittens and Paul Wilkinson sealed it.
1994-95 (Div 1)
Run-in: D D W D
Promoted: Champions
Boro had only sporadically dropped out of the top two all season and been in pole position since early March so they looked nailed on.
But a goal drought and injuries left them looking sluggish and suddenly the pack had closed in.
Going into the last four Boro were just two points clear of Tranmere with Bolton and Wolves not far behind them.
Then they were pegged back to draw 1-1 at home to Sheffield United and drew 1-1 away at Barnsley and suddenly the gap behind them evaporated.
But Robson’s side took a huge step forward with an emotion fuelled 2-1 win over Luton - the last game at Ayresome Park as Bolton lost at Oldham to slip five points behind.
Then Wanderers squandered their game in hand, leaving Boro to wrap up the title with a 1-1 midweek draw at Tranmere.
1997-98 (Div 1)
Run-in: W W D W
Promoted: 2nd
Boro had been swapping places in the top two with Nottingham Forest all season but a nervous early April stumble saw them slip out of the automatic spots.
Back-to-back defeats left them neck-and-neck with Charlton and Sunderland for second spot with Forest well clear.
But Robbo’s team revved up a gear and found a ruthless streak as they fought - Steve Vickers was sent off for a headbutt on Lee Bradbury - to a 1-0 home win over relegation-bound Manchester City then scrapped to a 1-0 win at Port Vale.
A 1-1 home draw with Wolves let Sunderland and Charlton back within a point before Boro finished with a final flourish and a neat historical echo by beating Oxford 4-1 - although the atmosphere was tense with the game goalless at half-time.
