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It has been argued in some quarters that we didn't get what we deserved at the weekend, the same could easily be said about our trip to the North East.
As the Burnley fans made their way into the Riverside Stadium they were greeted by the news that the majority had wanted. Cork in. Eagles in. Mears in.
It meant that Martin Paterson, David Edgar and Dean Marney dropped to the bench and Michael Duff was the unlucky man to drop out of the matchday squad.
On paper it looked as though the Teessiders would provide a stern test. McManus, McDonald, Lita, Robson, O'Neill and Hoyte all more than capable players, but the reality was that we were facing a team short on confidence, short on belief and desperately scratching around for any kind of form.
Despite languishing in the bottom half of the table after a poor start to the season, it was the home side who made the brighter start. Australian international Scott McDonald wasted the game's first real chance when he blazed over from close range after Leroy Lita had found space on the right and picked out his strike partner.
As had been the case in the opening half on Saturday, the Burnley players seemed to find stringing five passes together an impossible task, with captain Graham Alexander particularly guilty of surrendering possession easily.
McDonald then spurned a second chance, finding a gap between Clarke Carlisle and Mears down the Burnley right before forcing a save from Brian Jensen.
It took the visitors until the 25th minute to threaten Jason Steele's goal. Ross Wallace found space out wide before finding Chris Iwelumo on the penalty spot, sadly the big Scot could only guide his header comfortably over the bar.
The next time Wallace delivered from a wide area he found Andre Bikey, whose header crashed against the post with only minutes left in the first half.
All evening I had feared that if Boro were going to do anything it was going to come from or via the left foot of Barry Robson.
Once coveted by us under a former manager, Robson's influence grew as the second half began. First his corner was headed narrowly off target by Andrew Halliday, and then he found himself alone at the far post to meet Julio Arca's lofted ball, only a magnificent block from the brave Jensen stopping him from opening the scoring.
There was no doubting that the away side were finally gaining a serious grip on the game though. Chris Eagles, one of two outstanding performers on the night, was providing a mix of trickery, determination and pace down the right hand side and more than once he created openings that went begging.
The other outstanding performer was Andre Bikey, and it was the big Cameroonian who broke the deadlock just after the hour.
I've no idea if more work is being put in on set pieces on the training ground under Brian Laws, but something's different, we've started to score from them!
Graham Alexander's 65th minute corner made it all the way to the back post, where Bikey leapt above his marker to smash a header past the helpless Steele. After what felt like a decade without a goal from a corner we now have four in six league games.
The goal was the least that Bikey deserved, it was a colossal performance from a man who is bang in form. Carlisle described him as "one of the best centre halves this club has had in years" in Saturday's programme and, while his detractors will point to his occasional lapses in concentration, he is an incredibly talented defender.
So - we were winning away - how very unusual. Only once in 18 months had we managed to take maximum points from a game away from Turf Moor in the league (ignoring the play-off win at Reading).
Sadly, it was not to last. With fifteen minutes to go Tarmo Kink arrived on the pitch to the bewilderment of the travelling support - if we didn't know who he was after 75 minutes of the game we certainly did twenty minutes later.
With just 11 minutes remaining McDonald weaved his way to the edge of the Burnley box, his sideways pass was perfect for Kink to meet first time, his left-foot effort was unerring and beat Jensen low to his left. What a time for the Estonian to score his first goal in English football.
He wasn't done either, after a nervy ten minutes of thrust and counter-thrust from the two teams Kink decided it was time to settle things.
Lita bought the hosts a soft free-kick on the edge of the box, not the first such foul he and his team mates had 'won' during the game. With just seconds remaining Kink hammered the free kick straight past Jensen and into the same left hand corner that he had found for his first, leaving the Clarets fans behind the goal feeling as badly as our Lilywhite neighbours did at 7pm on Saturday.
So it's another away game without a win, but this isn't a defeat that will define the Laws era and it won't define our Championship fate. It's a kick in the teeth, but there wasn't much for the anti-Laws brigade to get their teeth into tonight, just another harsh lesson in how cruel football, and fate, can be at times.