SOMETIMES, you have to hold your hands up and accept that you took a well-deserved beating.

There should be no complaints from Middlesbrough at the Goldsands Stadium on Saturday. They were second-best across the board, did not get into any kind of rhythm and allowed their rivals for promotion to boss the game from start to finish.

As much as it was a bad day for Middlesbrough – they were every bit as bad as Bournemouth were good – their defeat will not signal the end of their promotion bid.

The gap between the bottom of the Premier League and the top of the Championship is insignificant. Leicester and Burnley gained promotion and did not make wholesale changes to their squads once they started life in the top flight, and while they occupy two of the bottom three places in the division, both have competed for spells over the season.

Any three of six teams including Aston Villa and Sunderland could go down in May, while it can be argued that any of the current top six in the Championship could be competitive in the top flight. Maybe they should be done with it and relegate all six strugglers from the Premier League?

Boro’s defeat came on a so-called pivotal weekend in the Championship, but nothing has been won or lost just yet. There are still many rivers to cross, and the top half of the division resembles a game of musical chairs.

What matters is who has a chair when the music stops.

Penalties from Yann Kermorgant and Brett Pitman either side of a Harry Arter thunderbolt sealed a convincing win for Eddie Howe’s Cherries, sealing top spot before the two-week international break.

While Boro were not at the races, they have genuine cause for complaint with one, if not both of the penalties. Callum Wilson went down far too easily under Tomas Kalas’ 12th minute challenge from which Kermorgant scored, and there appeared to be no contact from Grant Leadbitter when Arter was felled inside the area 16 minutes from time.

Bournemouth have had more penalties and had more players sent off against them than any other team in the Football League this season, and on Saturday’s evidence you can see why. Many Championship defenders simply cannot deal with the pace that the Cherries attack with, and Boro fell into this trap.

Aitor Karanka, while disappointed with Anthony Taylor’s refereeing display, could have no complaints with Bournemouth’s win.

“I knew from the beginning of the game that it was going to be difficult,” said Karanka. “Bournemouth are one of the best teams in the league, but we made individual mistakes. We lost our consistency, our confidence.

“There were a lot of refereeing decisions that I could not understand, and I still cannot understand now.

“The penalties were the main thing, but there were a lot of free-kicks, a lot of situations. I felt in the first five minutes it was going to be difficult because of the referee.

“When you are playing one of the best teams in the league and you are making mistakes, it is impossible to win. Every single ball into our box brought individual mistakes.”

Middlesbrough’s defence is the best in the division but there was little evidence on their first-half horror show at the Goldsands Stadium.

As early as the first minute, there was frailty not seen this season in the Championship from Boro, with George Friend barging into Matt Ritchie. Kermorgant’s resulting free-kick was pushed away by Dimi Konstantopoulos.

Such indiscipline was punished in the 12th minute when Kalas, playing centre-half due to the absence of both Dani Ayala and Jonathan Woodgate, hauled down Wilson in the area. Kermorgant made no mistake from the spot.

Wilson and Kermorgant went close with chances after that as Boro struggled to get any consistency going, although Adam Reach did bring a save from Cherries goalkeeper Artur Boruc when he flicked goalwards from Patrick Bamford’s cross.

Too many passes went astray for the Teessiders as Bournemouth sprayed the ball around with ease, and Karanka’s side were fortunate to go in at half-time only one goal down.

Bournemouth got off to the perfect start to the second half when Arter fired a loose ball goalwards, arcing perfectly past Konstantopoulos and in off the post.

Kalas cleared after getting into a mix-up with Konstantopoulos, before Ritchie spooned over from point-blank range as the Cherries piled forward.

Middlesbrough switched to a 3-5-2 formation when they brought Kike on after 55 minutes, but it had little effect, and Bournemouth extended their lead further on 74 minutes when referee Taylor pointed to the spot when he believed Leadbitter had pulled down Arter. Pitman rammed in the spot kick.

Karanka has two weeks to work with his side before resuming on Easter weekend to face Wigan Athletic and Watford, and is keen to write off Saturday’s defeat.

“Now, we’ve got to think about the future,” said Karanka. “We can forget this week now. This week has been good as we have six more points on the table, from Derby and Ipswich. Now we have two weeks to prepare for the last seven games.

“We are in a very good position, we are having a very good season – we just need to keep going in the same way.”

Bournemouth manager Howe understood Boro’s fury at the second penalty, but believes that luck can go both ways over a Championship season.

“We were the victims of one on Tuesday and you hope that over the season it balances itself out,” said Howe.

“We were robbed of two points against Cardiff. Here, I thought the game was already decided before the second penalty.

“Of course you can bring in video replays but do we want to see that in football? Do we want the games to be slowed down?

“We’d be changing the game that we love and part of what we love is the debating and the arguments.

“I’m not trying to be wise because we’ve had a decision go in our favour.”