Southampton rounded off their excellent regular Championship season with a confident 3-1 victory over Preston North End.
Once resigned to a lower table finish under the disastrous reign of Will Still, Tonda Eckert has now steered the Saints to a comfortably obtained playoff spot, on the back of a 19-match league unbeaten run.
However, all of these wonderful numbers in Southampton's favour could ultimately count for nothing if the South Coast giants were to come unstuck in the anxiety-inducing lottery that is the playoffs.
The Saints have never actually lost a playoff final albeit from only two ventures into this nerve-wracking environment, with Eckert needing his key players to step up to the mark when they travel to the Riverside Stadium on Saturday lunchtime.
Eckert will need these star players to be at their best vs Boro
The much-loved German will be able to welcome back Flynn Downes to the first-team fold for this mammoth journey up to Teesside, with the usually calm midfield operator suspended for the late string of matches in the regular season.
Having already won promotion to the Premier League, donning Southampton red and white, Eckert will be relying on the ex-Swansea City midfielder to bring a sense of assuredness to his midfield ranks, when facing the likes of Hayden Hackney, who has won various plaudits this season, for his equally classy midfield performances.
Moreover, the 33-year-old will be hopeful that the likes of both Cyle Larin and Ross Stewart will be firing on all cylinders for the tense match-up to come at the Riverside.
Amazingly, Larin has popped up with a red-hot eight goals from only nine Southampton starts this season, with talk that the potent Canadian could pen a permanent deal at St. Mary's very soon.
With Stewart a previous promotion winner too via the stressful Wembley route with Sunderland, his expertise and know-how might also come in handy, as well as his additional firepower.
With Leo Scienza also at Eckert's disposal, there should be more than enough in the Southampton tank to overcome Kim Hellberg's hosts, before a raucous St Mary's is the setting for the second leg.
There is another blistering attacking force, who is yet to be mentioned, who will be hungry to get the better of Boro, more than most in Eckert's ranks...
The Saints star who will be desperate to beat Boro
Heading back up North on the weekend, Finn Azaz will be desperate to get one over on his ex-employers.
With 11 goals and eight assists in all competitions during the regular season, Southampton fans will be banking on their entertaining number ten to come up trumps on the big stage, if he doesn't let playing against his former club get to his head.
When on the books of Boro, Azaz was equally a dangerous threat in the attacking areas, with a stunning 12 goals and 11 assists collected last season, under the final campaign of Michael Carrick.
Ultimately, though, no playoff finish was forthcoming, with the 25-year-old, no doubt, hungry to succeed this time around, having finally broken into the top six.
He won't care that he has to down his old team to taste Premier League glory, but he has struggled against his one-time employers in recent meetings.
In the regular season, he blanked across two matches, as Southampton drew 1-1, and lost 4-0.
They cannot repeat these unconvincing performances if they want to head to Wembley, with a hope that Azaz has finally packed his shooting boots, when playing against his old foes.
After all, the Irishman has already entered the Saints history books this campaign, when he curled home a sumputous strike against Manchester City in the FA Cup.
Coming away from that one-off match empty-handed, despite Azaz's wonder strike, the expectation will be that their next trip to Wembley culminates in promotion, with Middlesbrough standing in their way.
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