Still not safe, Boro went to the Stadium of Light for the Wear-Tees derby with Sunderland. Brad Jones made his first league appearance of the season while Schwarzer remained injured and Turnbull was only fit enough for the bench. Tuncay opened the scoring after 4 minutes, but less than 2 minutes later, the scores were again level. Sunderland took the lead just before half time. Alves got his third of the season after 74 minutes, but Boro conceded a goal two minutes into stoppage time to hand Sunderland a 3–2 victory.