JONATHAN Woodgate and his Middlesbrough players are at least in harmony on one thing – unless they can cure their card problem then they are in for a miserable Christmas.

The red cards shown to Marcus Browne and Paddy McNair brought the team’s sending-off tally to four in eight matches and ensured any possibility of delivering an extension to their recent mini-revival went the way of stray post.

Woodgate was understandably furious with Browne for his reckless – and entirely pointless - lunge at Swansea’s Mike van der Hoorn just past the hour mark, although why he was less inclined to castigate McNair was unclear.

The midfielder’s assault on Matt Grimes – a juvenile elbow into his ear after the ball had gone - was certainly less dangerous, but it was no less futile and hair-brained.

The fact that the first incident came when the score was 1-1 and the game was still in the balance meant that McNair’s petulance was certainly less influential as Boro were already 3-1 down with 14 minutes remaining.

But that should not disguise the fact that poor discipline runs through the squad like a fault line and unless they can mend their ways, the danger of relegation to League One will not go away.

Marcus Tavernier – scorer of a superbly-struck equaliser – admitted that Boro’s players need to sort out their own issues among themselves, rather than having to rely on their manager to try and do it for them.

Tavernier may be only 20 years old, but he appears wise enough to know that Boro’s self-destructive nature is a ruinous habit for a team just three points above the relegation zone.

“It’s hurting a lot – especially when we know that games are there for the taking, like this one,” said Tavernier. “We all know our roles, we all have good discipline towards each other, so I’m sure a few of the lads have spoken and we can move on. We can only apologise to the fans.

“We knew at half-time the game was still there for the taking. When we got back level, we thought we could go on and win the game. But, unfortunately, things changed and it’s gone the other way.

“I didn’t see either of the sending offs, but it’s never nice to go down to ten men. We had to dig deep and keep going. But we’ve ended up letting ourselves down and we haven’t won the game.”

Woodgate’s frustration was equally evident and more forthright. The steam was still coming out of his ears long after the final whistle and you would imagine Browne – who managed to get booked for diving before his straight red in what will be an infamous 12-minute cameo – would have attempted to sit well away from his manager on the coach trip home.

Either way, Woodgate is certainly going to lighten Browne’s wallet with a significant fine from his wages.

Browne was sent off just four minutes after Tavernier had thumped his shot past Swansea goalkeeper Freddie Woodman, their loan signing from Newcastle.

Within eight minutes Andre Ayew had blasted home his second goal, to add to his first-half penalty, and two minutes after that Sam Surridge turned in a non-too-crowded box to strike Swansea’s third.

In all, the game had pivoted in 14 minutes from being a close encounter Boro looked capable of winning to one in which their nine men were desperate to keep the score respectable at 3-1 down.

Woodgate was not laying it on too thickly when he said: “When we got back into it at 1-1, there was only one team that was going to go on and win the game.”

The manager disputed the fact that referee Dean Whitestone had awarded a penalty for a trip on Ayew midway through the first half and the severity of the McNair punishment – but not much else.

He added: “The penalty is not a penalty at all. Dael Fry gets the ball and it is not a foul at all on Andre Ayew.

“At 1-1 we were looking good, but then there is the decision from Marcus Browne to make a horrific tackle.

“I absolutely can’t condone that. It’s a terrible tackle and it’s a straight red card. He has let his team down. It’s a red card all day long and I don’t know what he’s thinking. He had just been booked for simulation so surely you have to think about that.

“Paddy McNair’s is a yellow card in my opinion, but the game should have been stopped before that anyway. There were some decisions which were really, really bad.

“But the ill-discipline from Marcus Browne has cost us the game. It’s a rash decision and a two-footed tackle. It’s very frustrating, but we will definitely appeal Paddy’s. Marcus will definitely get fined as it was a good performance apart from the tackle.”

Boro now host Stoke City on Friday night in a match that has huge significance.

Their opponents lie in the relegation zone, but know that if they can force Boro to again hit the self-destruct button, then the clubs many thought would be fighting for promotion this season will be level on points at the wrong end of the table.