CONSISTENCY has been an overused word by manager Steve McClaren and at Goodison Park it became evidently clear why it has always been on the tip of his tongue.
Yesterday's defeat to Everton means it is now 12 months since McClaren last tasted back-to-back victories in the Premiership with Middlesbrough.
An incredible statistic which is stopping his side from becoming serious contenders for a Champions League spot.
Having leapt to the top of UEFA Cup Group D on Thursday night, victory at Everton would have been the perfect way to show that the recent revival is not a flash in the pan.
However, James Beattie, not for the first time, popped up in the right place at the right time to bring an end to Boro's three game winning streak in all competitions.
Beattie, whose seven goals in 12 career appearances against the Teessiders is more than he has scored against any other club, headed the only goal of the game in the 16th minute to condemn McClaren's men to defeat at Everton.
It is now an astounding 36 matches since Boro took three points from successive league fixtures - almost as long as it has taken for a team to defeat Chelsea in the Premiership.
Those victories over West Brom and Liverpool in November 2004 seem such a long time ago and the wait suggests fourth spot will not be too far away if McClaren can find a formula for a series of wins.
It was on Boro's last visit to Goodison that McClaren stumbled across a formation that had proved successful over the past couple of weeks.
Since opting to field three central defenders in the 1-0 win over Everton in the Carling Cup 12 days ago Boro also won their succeeding two matches.
First there was the hysteria of the memorable 4-1 demolition job on Manchester United and then there was the comprehensive 3-0 success over Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk in the UEFA Cup on Thursday night.
But, having conceded just once in those three fixtures, McClaren had warned against the threat of an old-fashioned kind ahead of yesterday's trip to Merseyside.
The no-nonsense style strikers Duncan Ferguson and Beattie clearly played on the Boro boss' mind and it was highlighted by his selection.
Teenager Matthew Bates, so impressive and who had shown maturity beyond his years in the recent good run, was taken out of the starting line-up to make way for the returning Ugo Ehiogu.
The experience of Ehiogu - who limped out with a knee injury during the first meeting of the season between the two sides - was drafted in to try to counter the threat of former Newcastle forward Ferguson.
But it was Beattie who Ehiogu found himself tested against first and it was the Everton man who came out on top.
An Everton corner was quickly worked short between Andy van der Meyde and Phil Neville. Van der Meyde's first-time cross from the left dropped to the near post and Beattie outjumped the Boro defender to give the home side the lead just after quarter of an hour.
That particular source of goal had been exactly what McClaren had hoped his defence could counter and, both Franck Queudrue and Chris Riggott had emerged successful in the early exchanges. But the goal knocked Boro's game plan to bits.
Although initially Everton did look to be in an adventurous mood, the home defence looked nervy whenever the visitors sprayed the ball around in the final third.
Gaizka Mendieta had threatened to open the scoring well before Beattie had found the net, but his shot from just inside the area hit the side-netting and Everton escaped.
And Mendieta, still busy after two energetic displays against United and Dnipro, turned provider after Beattie's opener and Yakubu should have levelled.
The Spaniard's defence-splitting pass put his team-mate through on goal.
However, the £7.5m striker's tame shot did not trouble goalkeeper Nigel Martyn and the ball rolled straight into his arms after his first touch had taken him wide.
Mark Viduka - whose two goals secured victory against Dnipro but had to make way for stand-in skipper Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink's return - cut a dejected figure on the Boro bench as he sat patiently waiting for an introduction.
As half-time loomed Viduka's wish did not look to be too far around the corner.
Despite plenty of running from Yakubu, the breakthrough did not look like it was going to arrive.
When the Nigerian did manage to pick up possession he was all too regularly dispossessed by his fellow countryman Joseph Yobo.
Neither Hasselbaink nor Yakubu's cause was helped by some pretty lacklustre inventive play from the Boro midfield, in which Fabio Rochemback gave the ball away far too frequently for a Brazilian's liking.
Although the game could quite easily have been even at the break, Everton also created the second best chance of the half. unsurprisingly, it fell once again to the head of Beattie.
On this occasion, though, Tony Hibbert's centre was headed just over by the former Saints man and Boro trailed by just the odd goal at half-time.
After deciding to stick with the same starting XI after the restart, nine minutes of ineffectiveness led to Viduka being granted the opportunity to make his point before the full-time whistle.
The Aussie replaced Yakubu but even he struggled to give Boro the lift that would have clinched at least a point from an Everton team only just beginning to turn the corner after a dreadful start.
Both Hasselbaink and George Boateng had poor, long-range efforts fly way off target but Martyn was never seriously tested enough to suggest an equaliser was on the horizon.
In fact had it not been for Beattie's wastefulness, he hit the bar from eight yards after being fed the ball by James McFadden, Everton would not have faced a nervous end to the proceedings.
There was one late moment when Franck Queudrue headed against the bar but Everton survived, much to McClaren and Boro's frustration.
Read more about Middlesbrough here.
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