THE IMPORTANCE of the win over Derby can't be overstated. It was psychologically and politically important to keep the dark forces of "typical Boro" at bay by ensuring victory so as not to squander the either the points or the goodwill gained by the inspirational win over Arsenal.
Nothing could have been more calculated to kill off the stirrings of a spiritual revival at the Riverside than to follow a galvanising victory over the top of the table by slumping to defeat to the team at the bottom. That nightmare scenario would have declared open season for the cynics and thrown the club back into crisis so, it may not have been pretty, but job done.
Now we roll straight on to the next "season defining game" against West Ham with exactly the same high stakes. All the teams below us are facing a string of Christmas crunch six pointers so there will be a lot of points up for grabs immediately below us. We can't afford to slip up now or we will be back in the brown stuff and all the good work will go to waste.
Boro have bought some valuable breathing space with six precious points from the last two games - and it was a good job too. The teams just behind us are far too close for comfort and but for the second halves elsewhere swinging our way late on Saturday afternoon the bottom of the table would have a far less friendly look about it.
At Pride Park having the BBC Premier League live page open on the laptop was at times quite worrying. Before Boro's goal Bolton were winning, Wigan were winning, Sunderland were winning, Birmingham were winning.... only Fulham were keeping us out of the bottom three and they were due to play later on in the evening. As it turned out late levellers for Villa and Reading and a storming finish for Man City underlined the full value of Tuncay's goal. It also underlined exactly how fine the line is between having a little cushion and being dragged back into the battle of the trapdoor dancers.
Which makes the Christmas fixtures all the more important because all the teams down below us have been presented with some winnable festive fixtures and the opportunity is there for one or two of them to collect six points of their own and that would pile the pressure on.
Six weeks ago Boro went into a similar string of games. The fixtures threw up four 'six-pointers' out of six matches: Bolton, Spurs, Reading and Derby woven around tougher fixtures at home to in-form Villa and awesome Arsenal. Boro have put in some solid displays in those crunch games - Bolton was a real show of steel in a very physical scrap against a resurgent side with a new boss, against Spurs Boro came from behind to salvage something against a side that seemed to be turning the corner, Reading saw the signs of a more balanced and creative style and Tuncay's first goal while Derby was a win ugly encounter enlivened only by a wonder goal.
It has been an excellent run of only one defeat in six and in truth only in the last 47 minutes against Villa have Boro looked shapeless and dis-spirited and folded in the frightening manner which marred the opening stretch of the campaign.
Yet arguably Boro have not taken full advantage of those all important fixtures. The win against Derby took the tally from the four six-pointers to six points. Throw in the Brucie bonus of the Arsenal win and it looks a lot healthier and it would be churlish to quibble over a watershed month that has seen a team that looked doomed rediscover itself, but failure to punish the relegation strugglers has left them in a position where they can claw the ground gained back.
Boro fans face an anxious festive fixture programme in which as many eyes will be on results elsewhere as on the progress of the Boro in their tough and potentially tricky run of games at home to West Ham on Saturday, away at Birmingham on Boxing Day then the long haul to in-form Portsmouth on December 30th.
The others below Boro - now on 17 points, exactly the same as at this stage last year - have these holiday fixtures:
BIRMINGHAM (15 points): Bolton (A), Boro (H), Fulham (H)
BOLTON (14 points) : Birmingham (H), Everton (A), Sunderland (A)
SUNDERLAND (14 points): Reading (A), Man Utd (H), Bolton (H)
FULHAM (13 points): Wigan (H), Spurs (A), Birmingham (A)
WIGAN (12 points): Fulham (A), Newcastle (H), Aston Villa (H)
Those give an opportunity for a motivated, organised and ruthless team - or just a lucky one - to pull themselves clear and move back up ahead of Boro, if we are not equally determined and successful. Of course, there are two sides to this particular coin. If one of the sides down there has a disaster and loses two of their big games it could leave them cast hopeless adrift alongside dead men walking Derby (and incidentally I have never heard a boss so resigned to relegation so early in the season as Jewell was after the game on Saturday).
But we don't want to be spoiling our festivities by calculating the permutations down below. Let's get stuck into West Ham, stretch their awful record at the Riverside and widen the gap below us then go to Birmingham and Portsmouth wearing Santa hats and beaming smiles.
Four points (not overly ambitious but certainly realistic) from these next three games will leave Boro on 21 points and in a good position to push on in the second half of the season. Four points will probably out-strip the return of most of the teams below us in those games too.
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