SOMETIMES, an entire season can pivot on one moment. When Middlesbrough headed past the half-hour mark of their home game against Norwich trailing by a goal and seemingly devoid of any kind of spark or cohesion, they were in grave danger of being dragged into a relegation trouble.

Then, from nowhere, Norwich midfielder Borja Sainz was sent off for kicking out at Jonny Howson, Boro flicked a switch and scored two goals in the space of six first-half minutes, and the mood at a previously edgy Riverside was completely transformed.

Never mind that, for the opening 30 minutes, Michael Carrick’s side were every bit as poor as they had been in their weekend defeat at Stoke. When they needed to turn things around, they did, with Lukas Engel’s superb first-time volley providing some welcome breathing space midway through the second half.

By the end of the evening, the Teessiders were able to celebrate a first home victory since December, and had climbed back into the top half of the table. The ten-point gap separating them from the play-off positions is surely too big to bridge, even with a game in hand on most of the sides above them. Nevertheless, a position that had the potential to become extremely fraught suddenly looks a lot more appealing.

Not, however, that it looked like turning out that way initially. With his side having conceded two or more goals in five of their previous seven matches, Carrick’s desire to tighten up by switching to a five-man defence was understandable. For the opening quarter of the game, though, it did not have the desired effect.

Middlesbrough looked shaky and uncertain at the back while it was 11-against-11, with routine balls over the top catching them out from the word go. Norwich almost profited in the ninth minute when Dimitris Giannoulis ghosted between Luke Ayling and Paddy McNair, but after Seny Dieng successfully held up the full-back, Sainz curled over from the corner of the 18-yard box.

Giannoulis broke free again moments later, delivering a low cross that resulted in a first-time shot from Ashley Barnes that Dieng saved, but if Norwich’s opening two opportunities were warnings for their opponents, they went unheeded.

Gabriel Sara’s floated 17th-minute through ball should have been reasonably easy to defend, but a flat-footed Boro defence allowed it to sail over them, affording Barnes an opportunity in the penalty area.

The veteran forward made a complete hash of his swivelled attempt to sweep the ball home, barely making any contact at all as he tumbled to the turf, but with Matt Clarke watching on, he still had time to manoeuvre his body on the floor and stab past Dieng. The scrappiness of the goal merely served to emphasise the abject quality of Boro’s defending.

With the Riverside crowd muted, it felt like a night when the home side desperately needed something to spark them into life. That something arrived on the half-hour mark, and was completely self-inflicted from a Norwich perspective.

Howson won the ball as he slid in ahead of Sainz, but incensed the Norwich midfielder as he caught him accidentally with his follow-through. Sainz petulantly kicked out at Howson as he clambered to his feet, and was rightly shown a straight red card by referee Robert Madley. From nowhere, Boro had a lifeline.

Could they make the most of it? The answer arrived just seven minutes after Sainz’s early exit. Engel slid over a low cross from the left, and while Giannoulis got to the ball ahead of Emmanuel Latte Lath, he was under pressure from the Boro striker and could only prod it towards an unmarked Marcus  Forss, who swept home from close range.

The Teessiders could barely believe their luck, but with Norwich imploding at a remarkable rate, even better was to come two minutes before the interval.

Clarke slung over a cross from the left, and when Forss missed his attempted header, the entire Norwich defence switched off and effectively stopped playing. Latte Lath not only had time to chest the ball down at the heart of the penalty area, he could even take another touch before casually slotting home from the edge of the six-yard box. Having been comprehensively outplayed for a big chunk of the first half, Boro somehow found themselves ahead at the break.

Crucially, they kept their foot down in the second period, desperate to further exploit their man advantage over a tiring Norwich side. Howson curled a shot just wide of the far post after a slick short free-kick routine with Riley McGree, while Lewis O’Brien had a fiercely-hit strike charged down in the area.

Engel and Ayling were the key to much of Boro’s second-half attacking, offering width and a decent standard of crossing from their respective wing-back positions, and they combined as Boro extended their lead shortly after the hour mark.

Ayling swung over a deep cross from the right, and after breaking into the area, Engel cracked a superb first-time volley across Angus Gunn and into the net. It was the summer signing’s second goal in a Boro shirt, and just reward for an excellent display.

With his side two goals clear, Carrick could afford to withdraw Howson and Latte Lath, sensibly guarding against the risk of an injury recurrence, and the home side were able to play out the closing stages of the game at half-pace.

One win doesn’t solve everything, especially one that was effectively handed to the Teessiders on a plate. It lifts much of the pressure that had been building since the turn of the year, though, and should result in a relatively stress-free end to the campaign.