Sheffield Wednesday boss Stuart Gray admitted Boro's 3-5-2 formation played into his team's hands.
Aitor Karanka made five changes to the side that beat Bolton on Tuesday, reverting back to a 3-5-2 system which was successful at Blackpool earlier this month.
The battered Hillsborough pitch may have entered Karanka's thinking, and his Owls counterpart admitted he was shocked when he saw Boro's starting line-up.
"It threw me a bit but I knew it would allow me to get my full backs into the game more.
"They are a good side and they'll be up there when promotion is happening at the end of the season, but we closed them down and forced errors out of them.
"We put them outside of their comfort zone , pressed them high up the pitch, forced errors and won second balls that allowed us to be more creative.
"I was pleased with the way we forced them back and controlled the game in their half, rather than in our own."
After branding Blackpool's Bloomfield Road surface "a disgrace" a fortnight ago, Karanka will not have been too impressed with the pitch at Hillsborough - and his side struggled to find their feet afternoon.
Gray admitted the pitch is far from ideal, but was more concerned with his side's own performance.
"We have to play on this pitch 23 times," Gray added.
"We definitely need a new pitch but the most important thing was that we got two goals and personally I feel we could have maybe got that third goal to give us breathing space.
"One thing you know playing against a Middlesbrough side with some power and some pace and they can do you on the counter attack, but that's where I thought we defended very well today."
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