So we're out of the cup. I suppose it had to end somewhere, and did it really matter whether it was on Sunday at Goodison or at Wembley where we would run into the juggernaut that is Man United?

I'm sure every Boro fan wanted to be in the semi-final draw but, as Gareth Southgate said after the match, it would have been a bonus.

It was a battling performance from Boro and Everton needed a lot of character to beat us, which gives us some small measure of pride in defeat. This was neither Spurs-like rout nor a toothless surrender like we've often seen this season. I said previously that Everton were a team lacking a bit of invention and that was true - especially in the first half - but their league position shows they're still a very good team even with so many missing players. When Louis Saha came on they had an extra dimension and with the crowd behind them they had too much for us.

The match itself was what Sky Sports would have described as "engrossing" - which is to say lively without being particularly pleasing on the eye. Boro were the better team in the first half - we got at them straight away, we looked solid across the team and - crucially - we scored a goal. David Wheater, who hasn't scored for months, notched a trademark header (albeit via comedy goalkeeping from Tim Howard), and we could do with a few more from the big lad in the coming months. Going into half time a lot of us thought our team had a real chance of winning this encounter.

Of course, that lasted all of about ten minutes. On came Louis Saha and suddenly Everton had imagination up front. Brad Jones, who has been impressive recently, reminded the Boro support why we doubted him in the first place as he was caught in no man's land as a cross came in, allowing the magnificently barnetted Fellaini to loop a header over him for 1-1. As one of our more senior players who has had lots of game-time recently, Brad Jones really doesn't have many excuses for that one - it was simply a horrible lack of concentration at exactly the wrong moment. A few minutes later he was largely a spectator as Louis Saha slipped between the centre backs and whipped in a point-blank header to turn the tie around in the space of ten minutes.

As on Wednesday, porous defending was our downfall, and honestly I have absolutely no clever analysis to explain why this defensive unit has suddenly fallen apart. Against West Ham, Wigan and Liverpool we looked very solid. Since then, we've conceded six goals in two games. Against Spurs it was passing across the deck that unlocked us, but today it was aerial balls into the box. Everton don't set up like Spurs nor do they play the same football. What has changed in the space of the week? Answers on the back of a postcard, please.

Even after this dizzying one-two combo of goals we didn't give up, although suddenly Everton were much more confident, much more likely to score on the break and generally looked more likely to prevail. We fought right up until the final whistle, and would have carried on if the ref hadn't blown too early. With four minutes of stoppage time indicated and twenty seconds still to go, Mark Halsey decided that there wasn't time for a final Boro corner, despite there having been a good minute of stoppage time wasted after an Everton corner at the other end. Halsey, in a display of extreme pedantry, made Jones take the resultant free kick from a precise square foot of turf.

While it's clutching at straws to say this cost us the game, a corner kick is a corner kick. "It only takes a second to score" as commentator wisdom has it, and with three headed goals and an all-round display of terrible goalkeeping already in the match a corner-kick was a solid-gold chance to rescue the tie with the last touch of the ball. Perhaps Halsey couldn't stand an extra twenty seconds out in the cold Merseyside air, but it was quite frankly a ridiculous decision to presume a goal couldn't be scored in the time remaining. The home crowd had been pretty disgusted by the four minutes in the first instance and, at the risk of sounding bitter, my guess is that the referee didn't want to face their ire if Boro scored in the very last second.

It was a very irritating anti-climax to the game and it made me (and my friends) considerably more dissatisfied than we would have otherwise been. The over-riding emotion was resigned disappointment, and despite the inevitable low of defeat I wish Everton well in a frankly impossible looking draw against Manchester United. If anything the semi-final draw eases the pain somewhat because United are looking absolutely invincible right now and there's no way I could picture Boro triumphing over them at Wembley. Their terrifying, machine-like efficiency reminds me of Mourinho's Chelsea side of four years ago and they have big-match experience that will make them massive, massive favourites.

With the FA Cup no longer an issue, and the bizarre possibility of winning it whilst being relegated over, the club now has no excuses, no distractions and no respite from the relegation battle. The cup run was nice, it taught us some tactical lessons and gave us some confidence boosts but it's immaterial now. From now until the end of May, it's all about staying in this league. Hold on tight.