Calum Kavanagh bagged his first Under-23s hat-trick to fire Boro to a deserved win against Sunderland.
Kavanagh struck twice from the penalty spot - the second in stoppage time - and scored a delightful glancing header as Mark Tinkler's side beat the Black Cats 3-2 at Rockliffe.
The Boro side included Sol Brynn, back from Queen of the South, Caolan Boyd-Munce, who scored on his debut at Mansfield last week, and Josh Coburn and Martin Payero, fresh from first team bench duty against Reading.
Nathan Wood was also in the starting line-up, but what started as a promising afternoon for him lasted just 39 minutes before he was dismissed for a second yellow card, for a foul on the edge of the box.
By the time Benjamin Kimpioka converted the resultant free-kick, Boro had already found the net twice.
The first came on 20 minutes when Joe Gibson was hacked to the ground and Kavanagh stepped up to convert the penalty.
The second came 10 minutes later when debut man Bryant Bilongo, signed from Kingstonian this week, delivered a neat cross and Kavanagh showed real quality in heading home.
Boro had looked comfortable up to the point where Wood was dismissed, and the visitors got themselves back on level terms early in the second half when Cameron Jessup headed home.
Tinkler's side continued to enjoy the better of proceedings, though, and the points were sealed in stoppage time when another marauding run from Gibson drew a foul inside the box, and Kavanagh stepped up to convert his seventh goal in three games.