GIVEN the seven days or so that have gone by in the life of Middlesbrough Football Club, it is appropriate that studies have found the fourth week in January to be the most depressing week of the year.

A home defeat to Wigan and sensational remarks made by the club's chief executive on a number of issues - including revealing supporters had been misled into thinking manager Steve McClaren had signed a contract months ago only for him to do it on Friday.

Is it little wonder the confidence-drained squad were taken away to the Costa del Sol in a bid to lift spirits, forget about failings in the Premiership and help team bonding?

Still, it could have been worse. Boro could have been knocked out of the FA Cup by lower league opposition on Saturday. That would have made an already embarrassing period even worse, and it could quite easily have occurred.

Coventry, of the Championship, responded to Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink's opener 32 seconds into the second half by equalising through Stern John eight minutes later.

From that point on the Sky Blues, winners of the competition in 1987, dominated play and looked like inflicting more woe on a Boro team that have already endured enough in recent months.

"I think we all know things have to improve," said Boro captain Gareth Southgate. "We are doing a lot of talking and we are trying to address the problems that we had. What can you do? You have to keep working hard on the training ground and try to put things right. That's the only thing you can do.

"It's not a case of where and why it's gone wrong. It's where we put things right. That's what we are trying to do. We managed to do some good work this week while we were away.

"We were able to do good training in Marbella. We had a couple of sessions a day and although we didn't see any sun, we were able to walk through a few things that need to be addressed."

Saturday's draw with Coventry is the 11th time in 12 games that Boro have failed to win. The only time they did succeed was when non-league Nuneaton Borough travelled to the Riverside for a third round replay.

Failure to improve on that dreadful record at bottom-of-the-table Sunderland tomorrow night - where the Black Cats already hold the bragging rights from a September win on Teesside - and the threat of relegation would become more real.

A year ago Boro's failure to add fresh faces during the transfer window almost cost them a place in the UEFA Cup. A repeat of that before tomorrow night's deadline and McClaren's men could be playing Coventry again next season in the Championship.

But there are no thoughts about that from the players.

"We definitely feel we can get out of this situation. We've been in worse positions than this," said Southgate.

"Of course, at the moment, everything is a bit down and everything externally towards us is quite negative but every club goes through that.

"We have got to make sure that within our group we keep the belief that we can do it. When you have a run like we are having there's going to be lots of negativity in the area and people expect better. We have to use that to our advantage and make sure, collectively, we battle against that."

After a poor opening half from both sides on Saturday, in which City's striking pair of John and Dele Adebola had the best chances to score, the tie suddenly burst into life seconds after the restart.

After Stewart Downing was dispossessed, Richard Duffy's half-clearance was headed back into the danger area by Aiyegbeni Yakubu and Hasselbaink struck a right-foot volley into goalkeeper Marton Fulop's bottom right corner.

Moments after that Fulop did well to deny Yakubu and it proved to be a save that brought the best out of Coventry, who equalised shortly after.

Gary McShefferey's determination to chase a loose ball that looked destined to go for a goal-kick resulted in his cross being headed into the box by Michael Doyle.

John, unmarked, acrobatically turned to hook a right-foot volley beyond Mark Schwarzer to equalise.

From that point on Coventry dominated. McShefferey, who swapped shirts with his former England Under-18s colleague Stuart Parnaby at the end, caused allsorts of problems down Boro's right for Matthew Bates.

It was another McShefferey run down that side that was very nearly rewarded with a goal but Parnaby did well to distract James Scowcroft from close range after the winger's centre.

"It was same old, same old for us. We've had to roll our sleeves up and dig in and we are still in it.

"I don't think we are lucky to be still in it. They had a reasonable amount of pressure but the first half was comfortable," said Southgate.

Boro - who once again were indebted to teenager Lee Cattermole's grit in the middle of the pitch - held on for the draw that keeps their FA Cup hopes alive.

And, if the most miserable day of the year was regarded as last Monday, Southgate et al would love nothing more than for the good times of 2006 to start rolling at the Stadium of Light tomorrow night.

Coventry City 1 - 1 Middlesbrough

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