A ONCE in a lifetime opportunity was how George Boateng described the path opening up in front of Middlesbrough.

And after Steve McClaren's men moved up to fourth in the Premiership, albeit only briefly thanks to Manchester United's win later in the day, it was hard to disagree with the Dutchman.

The festive period was once the time for Boro's annual slump, but after Saturday's 3-0 win over Aston Villa the Teessiders can smell the Champions League.

Admittedly, there's still a long way to go and returning to the UEFA Cup is probably the more realistic of outcomes, but there's no denying Boro are building up a head of steam.

While the margin of victory over David O'Leary's seventh-placed Villa may have flattered Boro, the manner in which the triumph was achieved could not be argued with.

Twice finding themselves under the cosh in their own box, Boro transformed defence into attack in a flash and conjured up two clinical finishes.

Firstly, after the imperious Gareth Southgate had headed Gareth Barry's shot off the line, Boateng released Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink down the left on the 20 minute mark. Cutting inside, he turned defender Mark Delaney with all the prowess of Saturday Night Fever's Tony Manero, before unleashing an unstoppable shot into the far corner of the net beyond the despairing reach of former Sunderland keeper Thomas Sorensen.

The second goal was some time in coming, but having replaced the injured Mark Viduka at half-time, the Australian having ricked his back, substitute Joseph Desire Job finished off another breakaway on 69 minutes.

Stewart Downing headed a bouncing ball over the midfield and when Olof Melberg's woeful header was played into the winger's path he controlled and ran on. Having waited patiently for support he fed the Cameroon striker a perfectly-weighted pass and the latter curled the ball past Sorensen from 20 yards.

Boro wrapped up the win in the dying seconds when Michael Reiziger, playing at left-back instead of his more customary right, made the most of the otherwise classy Nolberto Solano's slip, ran into the box instead of feeding the overlapping Bolo Zenden, before firing a rapier drive between the keeper and his near post.

In between times Villa had made more than a decent fist of the encounter and had it not been for a combination of bad finishing, great defending and two excellent saves by Mark Schwarzer the outcome may well have been different. Lone striker Juan Pablo Angel headed onto the top of the bar, brought a full length save out of Schwarzer and saw the Australian custodian save a header on the line at the second attempt, teenager Steven Davis smacked a volley over when he should have scored and Barry hit the angle of post and bar to name but a few.

But clinical finishing is what Boro had over Villa and so it is in an upbeat mood that they go into the games with Birmingham and Norwich City as they seek to make inroads into the top four.

"We have to realise quickly that this is a once in a lifetime opportunity," Boateng said afterwards. "Getting a group of players like this together does not happen a lot in your career. You can go to places and have a lot of good individuals but you cannot achieve with good individuals, you can only achieve with a team. That's what we have here.

"Our second goal was a classic example. Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink pulled the defenders away for Joseph Job to score and Joseph pointed straight at Jimmy, that shows the great team spirit here. Everyone wishes everyone else success, everyone makes sacrifices for each other. Those who are not playing are just as much a part of it."

Boro boss Steve McClaren, who was forced to replace centre back Chris Riggott with Colin Cooper after 38 minutes after a hamstring problem flared up, denied the way the goals came about was part of his gameplan.

"I wouldn't say I was a counter-attacking coach," he said. "I would say I was a find-a-way-to-win coach. Every game is difficult. It's not about how you play, it's just about winning. Somehow today we had to find a way to win this game and somehow we did.

"You have to defend well, you have to pass the ball well and you have to have an end product. It's a simple philosophy but if you get those three right then you win football matches."

The boss said Boro's summer acquisitions had led to a different outlook come match day.

"We have changed our style a little bit, we are bit more attacking because of the players we have brought in. We started this game with two strikers and two wingers. We were playing 4-2-4 and so the game was going to be open," McClaren said.

"We like that kind of game because we have players who can score, and not just the front two, we have threats all over. Anyone who saw us at the beginning (of his reign) will have seen we had two banks of four and a clean sheet was the most important thing. But we have wanted to develop on that.

"You need a spine. We have brought people into the dressing room who are men, who are leaders, who are winners. Talent, yes, but character. They made sure we got over the finishing line today. Our character shone through."

Result: Middlesbrough 3 Aston Villa 0.

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