MICHAEL CARRICK will tell you that three points are three points and that they all add up the same at the end of the season. 

Try telling that to the delirious Middlesbrough fans inside Vicarage Road on Saturday for whom this felt like a defining victory. It will certainly be one of those that pop up in the memory bank when great away days are mentioned on Teesside come May. 

Joy. Elation. Nervousness. Dread. Back to elation. Pride. A whole gamut of emotions in 90 pulsating minutes. 

What stood out most of all was the belief that the Boro players carried with them to win a match twice in the same afternoon. 

At 2-0 up after 12 minutes and finding one another in space at will outside the Watford penalty area, it seemed inconceivable that Boro wouldn’t pocket the three points. 

Riley McGree twice found himself all alone with a clear shot at goal. The first, running onto a ball slipped in by Jonny Howson, was passed into the Watford net with keeper Daniel Bachmann leaving a gaping hole at his near post. 

The second, holding his run to allow Matt Crooks to find him with a square ball, was guided into the corner with the same assurance. 

Two successive wins had restored Boro’s confidence and their control of the game seemed effortless. That was until Dael Fry failed to sort his feet out in the 19th minute and somehow allowed a forward pass to reach Vakoun Bayo, who was running beyond him. Bayo slid his shot under Seny Dieng to reduce Watford’s deficit and reverse the game’s momentum. 

Fry compounded that error later in the half with another careless moment which gave Bayo a second opportunity, only for the striker to round Dieng this time and send an off-balance shot careering into the Boro fans behind the goal. 

Six minutes into the second half and the home side drew level, but not before Dieng plunged to his left to make a brilliant save from Bayo’s downward header. 

From the resulting corner, Imran Louza’s cross was met with the sweetest of half-volleys on the stretch by Watford central defender Wesley Hoedt. 

If Boro needed to test their newly rediscovered confidence after an awful August, this was the perfect moment. 

To a man, Carrick’s players stepped up to the challenge, none more so than Crooks, who seemed to lead every charge into the Watford half. 

He slipped in Isaiah Jones only for the midfielder’s control to fail him, knocking the ball way too far in front of him. 

Moments later, it was Josh Coburn’s turn to be fed by Crooks. The striker’s touch was assured, as was the manner in which he clipped his shot beyond Bachmann. 

The relief that poured out of the Boro fans was palpable, while their love for a 20-year-old local boy was genuine and prolonged. 

There is a certain irony in the fact that had Coburn’s proposed loan move to Plymouth Argyle gone ahead in August, the striker would now be further away from the Riverside as the crow flies than Chuba Akpom is in Amsterdam. In mileage terms, 315 to 295. 

Coburn spoke after the game about the natural understanding he already has with Crooks, who ought to have made it 4-2 when he raced clear on his own in the 73rd minute only to try to feed Hayden Hackney instead of taking a shot himself. 

That would have eased the tension of the final few minutes in which Watford substitute Matheus Martins curled a shot against the Boro bar. 

It would also have denied Boro a deserved victory, not just for the fluency of their passing, but for the determination that drove them on having surrendered a two-goal lead. 

Of all their impressive passages at Vicarage Road, the final half-hour stood out for the collective will not to give up on the win that had seemed assured early on. 

Last season proved that a slow start will not prevent Carrick and his men making a charge towards the promotion places. 

Momentum is everything in the Championship, even with an in-form Cardiff visiting the Riverside tomorrow night before Boro make the short hop to Wearside to face Sunderland on Saturday. 

For the Boro faithful, memories of a magical afternoon at Vicarage Road will only enhance their fervour.