February is here, the snowdrops are coming up and the first faint promise of spring is in the air, but for Middlesbrough fans thoughts of a sunny May afternoon at Wembley seem a distant prospect right now.
Monday's 3-2 defeat at home to Sunderland in the Tees-Wear derby left Michael Carrick's Boro seventh in the Championship, outside the play-off places on goal difference.
It was a 90 minutes that encapsulated their season to date with early attacking verve and promise being undermined by an inability to keep the ball out of the net.