MIDDLESBROUGH had to suffer 128 barren years before winning last season's Carling Cup and Steve McClaren's side might have to wait as long again to find opponents as accommodating as Coventry were as they kicked off their defence of the trophy last night.

Szilard Nemeth and James Morrison took advantage of two first-half howlers from Sky Blues stopper Luke Steele to ensure Boro cruised into the fourth round of this year's competition with the minimum of fuss.

And teenage striker Danny Graham put the icing on the cake with his first Middlesbrough goal in only his second senior appearance for the club to complete a routine win.

With Stewart Downing also prominent before the break, Boro's youngsters provided further evidence of their blossoming potential as a combination of the under-used and the overlooked maintained the Teessiders' four-pronged assault on silverware this season.

Only three of the side that triumphed against Bolton in Cardiff lined up against struggling Coventry - Ugo Ehiogu, Doriva and Joseph-Desire Job - but Boro's youngsters were rarely extended as the club's strength in depth was underlined again.

Andrew Davies made a welcome return to senior action after breaking his leg in March, while forgotten man Mark Wilson was ending an even longer drought after being recalled to the first team for the first time since a 1-0 defeat at Fulham in January 2003.

Last year's road to the Millennium Stadium began with a tortuous 1-0 win over Brighton but, while that game remained goalless until extra-time, this season's cup campaign got off to a far livelier start.

There was no surprise about the instigator of Boro's fourth-minute opener - Downing has been terrorising the best Premiership defences in recent weeks - but there was a definite novelty value about the way in which Coventry's slipshod defence served it up.

There seemed little danger when Downing fired a left-footed drive at Steele, but the Coventry goalkeeper could only palm the ball against motionless centre-half Dean Leacock, leaving Nemeth with the easiest of tap-ins from six yards.

Sky Blues boss Peter Reid needed some cheering up after that mistake, but things went from bad to worse midway through the first half as another calamitous Steele error helped Boro double their advantage.

The Coventry keeper was nowhere near the ball as he came charging off his line to meet Colin Cooper's left-wing cross, allowing teenage starlet Morrison to loop a deft header into the unguarded net.

The 18-year-old has exploded into McClaren's senior squad this season and, after breaking his senior duck in Banik Ostrava, last night's goal was just reward for another enterprising display down the right flank.

Steele's contribution, on the other hand, was far from stainless. The youngster was nothing like the confident keeper who had lined up against Middlesbrough for Manchester United in 2003's FA Youth Cup final, and his nightmare evening almost got even worse two minutes later as his attempted clearance cannoned off the loitering Morrison before spinning to safety.

Coventry looked like a side who had failed to win in nine league games and former Sunderland boss Reid must be starting to fear that Highfield Road is to be added to a long list of grounds he has been asked to vacate in haste.

Andy Morrell headed over the Boro crossbar in the 35th minute but, that aside, Ehiogu was able to coast through his first game in six weeks and substitute stopper Carlo Nash did little other than deal with the odd backpass and over-hit through ball.

McClaren could even afford the luxury of withdrawing Downing at the interval, safe in the knowledge that the hard work had already been done.

Unsurprisingly, his side took their foot off the gas after the break with Stephen Hughes registering Coventry's first shot on target in the 61st minute and Nash even having to break sweat to gather substitute Patrick Suffo's free-kick shortly after.

But the Teessiders extended their lead in the 70th minute when Graham latched on to Doriva's pass and drilled a precise 20-yard strike into the corner of Steele's net.

The striker spent part of last season on loan at Darlington and McClaren's decision to stop him joining the Quakers again this term will be vindicated if he continues to display the same composure when he is called upon next.

A fourth Boro youngster almost made it on to the scoresheet two minutes from time, but substitute Tony McMahon's shot on the turn rebounded off the left-hand upright with Steele beaten yet again.

l Mateja Kezman's first Chelsea goal put them into the fourth round of the Carling Cup but the match-winning hero then found himself at the centre of a coin-throwing controversy.

Kezman finally broke his scoring duck with a 57th-minute strike after spurning three glorious first-half chances.

Chelsea dominated the game and should have won by a bigger margin but former West Ham midfielder Frank Lampard missed a penalty 13 minutes from time. However, West Ham could now find themselves in trouble after Kezman was hit by a missile thrown from the visiting supporter's end before Lampard missed his spot-kick.

Kezman had to leave the field after being hit by a missile, thought to be a coin, thrown from the West Ham section behind the goal.

Result: Middlesbrough 3 Coventry City 0.

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