'Twas the weekend before Christmas and Middlesbrough were looking to spread some Christmas cheer. But the only thing their defending at Plymouth Argyle did was create lots of fear!

A little Christmas poem that about sums up what went wrong for Boro in Devon, though they at least left with something as they showed plenty of grit and determination to thrice come from behind at Home Park to draw 3-3. But less A Visit From St. Nicholas, Boro's defending in this one was more Nightmare Before Christmas.

There is something about this fixture that seems to provide goals and entertainment in rather dreadful weather conditions. For the near-1,800-strong Boro travelling army, the entertainment was one thing, though it goes without saying almost all would have preferred a boring 1-0 win like last weekend’s against Millwall.

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The trouble for Boro in this one was that they were continuously outdone in the same manner - which is what makes it all the more frustrating. All three goals they conceded came as Plymouth overloaded the wide areas with attacking full-backs that left Boro’s two full-backs exposed. The Boro forwards ahead of them did little to support and all three goals were criminally easy and all too similar.

Boro actually started the game well but an early injury to Michael Obafemi caused two lengthy stoppages and disrupted Boro’s flow. When Plymouth settled around the 15-minute mark, they dominated a sloppy Boro and were unfortunate to be only one up at the interval. Another superb Sol Brynn save in stoppage time rescued Michael Carrick’s side.

Starting the second half with far more purpose and better quality in possession, Boro were back on level terms through Jonny Howson. Despite being better in the second half, Boro’s defending let them down time and again as Plymouth were a constant threat on the break from the wide areas. To their credit though, first through Hayden Hackney and then Emmanuel Latte Lath, they kept finding ways back into the game. It showed incredible resolve.

A crazy 12 minutes saw four goals scored as it went from 1-1 to 3-3 in the blink of an eye. If there was any sense of frustration from Boro in a game even Carrick conceded they deserved nothing more from, it’s that they missed good chances at 1-1 and 2-2. Had they got their noses in front in the game, who knows how things may have transpired from there. Ben Doak lacked a killer’s instinct when he ran through on goal, while Hackney missed a bit of a sitter before he made amends with his equaliser.

“I enjoyed watching the boys give everything they had and trying to get back in the game and scoring goals,” Carrick said. “In the moments we did get back in the game, we probably should have gone ahead. But every time we did fall behind, we kept on going.

“I can’t fault the character. I can’t fault the spirit at all, it was fantastic. It would have been easy in the circumstances to come away with nothing at all. They get a big pat on the back for that and it’s a big part of us so I’m not surprised by it at all.

“I’ve told the boys the same thing. From that side, we can take a lot of positives from it. But we can’t leave ourselves having to come back in games as often as that.”

The defending wasn’t great, nor was Boro’s game management. As Carrick was keen to point out after, the poor defending wasn’t a defensive unit issue in a sense that the back four were to blame. It was how they defended as a team that was the issue - particularly in how the wide players left their full-backs so exposed.

Boro play in an expansive manner under Carrick. They rarely look so badly unbalanced as they did at Plymouth though. They didn’t ever really get to grips with a Plymouth side who committed a lot to attack. That should have played into Boro’s hands though.

In theory, it should have left Wayne Rooney’s side wide open to the counter - an area Boro are so usually ruthless with. In this one, they just couldn’t find their rhythm as they struggled to find their best. It was a little better in the second half, albeit without enough of a killer instinct in key moments, but in the first half, Boro were sloppy with the ball and were unable to work the ball through the lines as they gave the ball back to Plymouth again and again.

And so it makes assessing this pre-Christmas draw a difficult one. On the one hand, it’s a point gained away at a side who have only lost two in 10 on home turf this season. There’s positives to take from that in how they showed great character to ensure they didn’t leave completely empty-handed despite being far from their best.

But equally, on a day where all four sides in the top four won, Boro lost further ground on promotion rivals on a day that about summed up why Boro are where they are right now. On their day, at their best, they beat Plymouth comfortably. They can beat any team in this division. To be a promotion favourite, they have to win these kind of games more often.

But Jekyll and Hyde Boro just can’t seem to find their better days often enough. Before that pre-Burnley draw, Boro won four in five and scored 18 goals. It was a period of consistency we hoped was a sign of Boro’s improvements and capabilities. But Boro just have not been consistent enough this season and it’s why, despite on paper being every bit as good as any of the sides in the top four, they have ground to make up on all of them.

Not often enough have Boro been able to do what they did against QPR, against Oxford and against Hull City - assert their dominance in games and ruthlessly display their quality to emerge from games with authority. If Boro want to have a far more comfortable promotion push in the second half of the season, it’s that inconsistency and not knowing which Boro will show up from one week to the next that simply has to change.