You can almost pinpoint the FA Cup defeat at Arsenal as the start of our erratic recent form.
We were outplayed and outclassed at the Emirates that day - and haven’t really fired on all cylinders since.
Just think - with a better draw we could now be looking forward to a Wembley semi-final.
But it’s narrow margins. The elation we saw at Villa Park at the weekend could easily have been at the Riverside, albeit hopefully without the frightening scenes as fans invaded the pitch.
It was commonplace in the 1980s and early 90s, and on a number of occasions as a linesman and referee I had to sprint to safety as the hordes poured onto the pitch.
My worst experience also came in Birmingham, across the city at St Andrew’s when City knocked out Mogga’s Ipswich Town in the League Cup semi-final.
Nobody wants to stop fans enjoying themselves but it can still be done from the stands.
Hopefully Boro can enjoy that elation against Brighton on the last day of the season, or maybe even sooner.
But at the moment, that’s very much in the balance. Every single match is a cup final - starting against Ipswich on Saturday.
We need the Riverside bouncing at the start of a week that won’t finalise matters, but could go some way to deciding our fate this season.
Looking back to the defeat at Nottingham Forest, for the third consecutive Saturday not only the most biased Boro fan could blame the referee.
In fact, Jonathan Moss’ only real error went in our favour. We couldn’t have had too many complaints had he awarded a penalty against Tomas Kalas for handball.
That would have added insult to injury as we dominated most of the second half without looking like scoring.
In fact, on their limited forays, Forest looked the more likely.
Our three straight Saturday defeats have seen us create tons of chances and not take them against Leeds, not turn up at Hillsborough, and not take our chances again at The City Ground.
We know what the Championship is like, but we could have virtually passed the post by now.
Instead, we go into the week of destiny out of form and surely with our confidence knocked.
Aitor Karanka has a massive task on his hands - otherwise a fantastic season where we have exceeded pre-season expectations could end with the bitter feeling of disappointment.
A major talking point in the football world recently happened up the road at St James’ Park - and it’s further proof that the rest of us live in a different world to the Premier League.
The alleged spitting incident involving Grant Leadbitter and Jose Semedo at Hillsborough slipped under the national radar, but not the spat between Newcastle’s Papiss Cisse and Man United defender Jonny Evans.
They both paid the price for their filthy exchange and hopefully that will send a message out to anyone else considering dragging football into the gutter.
It was interesting to hear the pundits views on spitting. The majority quickly condemned it, though some felt Cisse’s seven-game ban was harsh. They said spitting doesn’t threaten careers, as some tackles do.
I’ve got an easy solution to that. Where elbows are used and two-footed challenges occur, make all those bans last for six matches.
That might just act as a deterrent.
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