There had been hopes that the promotion season had got rid of the "south of the River Tees hoodoo" - but there are definite signs of it returning.
If its simply a matter of players finding more motivation in front of a home crowd than they do on strange territory, then a solution may be in sight.
There is now genuine pressure for places, with the Cheslin twins having to settle for the Stags, despite both having excellent starts to the season.
Greg Edwards gets his place on the first team bench, after continuing to impress in the Stags, while Neil Howe has also returned from injury together with Paul Rudd.
In the front row Jon Norris will be on the bench for the firsts, allowing Adam Coates to get a full game for the Stags, while Chris Stewart has forced his way through to start first team games.
No doubt Darren Thomas will be chomping at the bit for a return, once he has recovered from his hamstring injury. The injury has solved a dilemma for the coaches over who to leave out for Jamie Connolly's return. The Kiwi is on excellent form being one of the few to come out of the Cleckheaton game with any credit.
In the back row, Aaron Myers should be available for the Hull game next month, while there was excellent news at training last night when Jonny Boatman turned up without his plaster cast and without a limp. He promptly got stuck into a rehab session with Gez. Jonny says that if Danny Cipriani can return after only four months then so can he. Don't bet against it.
So with genuine competition for places there should not be any complacency in any game.
Birkenhead Park will provide a stiff test of that resolve. We have something in common with them in that we both lost at Stockport when we should have won. Last week they were winning until the ninth minute of injury time losing to a scuffed drop goal which just crept over the bar.
That dented their promotion hopes but no doubt they were cheered when news of our result filtered through.
West I Dixon Thorn Hodgson Connolly Kerr Moss Tighe Carr [capt] Sawyer Stewart I Robinson T Dixon D Boatman Morrison Vinnicombe Reps Norris A Dixon Edwards