WITH four games remaining you can hardly blame Middlesbrough for packing their bags and heading for the Costa del Sol.

No sooner had the full-time whistle blew at Molineux than all systems were go for the Boro squad as they had a flight to catch to the luxurious Spanish resort of Malaga.

The official line is that Steve McClaren is taking his players to a training camp but after the defeat to Wolves then they might as well start their summer holidays early.

Having already secured a place in the UEFA Cup next season - via their maiden triumph in the Carling Cup - then the need to finish in the top five is not as urgent as it may once have been.

But until their trip to Wolves there was still something that was making Boro's run-in more interesting - the race for the final Champions League place that no side seems to want.

McClaren and the coaching staff may have been playing down their chances of sneaking in and beating Newcastle United, Liverpool, Aston Villa and Charlton for the right to play in European football's premier competition.

The truth is, though, had Boro maintained their recent good run of form by collecting all three points at Wolves then the Teessiders would have been just two points behind that fourth spot with 12 points still to play for.

However, it was not to be. Bottom club Wolves' dogged determination to win their first game in eight and keep alive their slim chances of survival brought any over-confident Boro fans crashing down to earth.

McClaren and his players are keen to stress that they have something to play for. They still have the same double target they set back in August - finishing above ninth and beating the record 52 points haul recorded in 2000. But, with European football already in place and the club's first trophy nicely placed in the cabinet, all eyes now are beginning to wander towards an exciting period at the Riverside, which will no doubt start as soon as the transfer window reopens.

On Saturday's display the first player McClaren - expected to move for Emile Heskey and Mark Viduka - should consider monitoring is the man who proved the difference at Molineux.

Wolves striker Henri Camara may have taken time to settle to life in the Premiership after his £1.5m from Sedan last summer but he is proving a handful to many defences across the country in his dazzling orange boots.

Camara's exquisite volley against Boro was his fifth goal in as many games and flashes of his tricks bore a similar resemblance to those seen by another Henry in north London.

And the Senegalese forward said: "You can't say the boots were lucky for the first six months of the season! But I've just switched to my other pair and my form has come. I believe the boots are working for me now. I've scored all the goals with the same pair."

Had the game continued as it had started then it would have been a cake-walk for Boro, although McClaren did claim 'if we'd played until Monday we wouldn't have scored'.

Wolves' defending for the first 20 minutes had Nationwide Conference, never mind Division One, written all over it. But Boro failed to capitalise on hesitancy from Isaac Okoronkwo and Lee Naylor in particular.

The best chance fell when Massimo Maccarone skewed his shot onto the head of Szilard Nemeth who headed wide when he had an open goal to aim for.

And just a couple of minutes later Carl Cort, a forgotten man not so long ago at Newcastle, rose above villified Danny Mills at the back post to send a powerful header beyond Mark Schwarzer from Mark Clyde's cross.

There were a number of chances that came Boro's way but Maccarone could have done with Camara's lucky boots as he wasted a number of glorious chances and was denied by goalkeeper Paul Jones.

It was Camara's super strike just after the hour that cemented what could prove to be a priceless victory for the hosts.

Naylor's long throw was flicked on by the head of Cort and Camara hooked a sweet volley in off Schwarzer's left hand post. Schwarzer did manage to keep the score down to two in injury-time when he dived low to stop a weak Camara penalty - after Alex Rae had been fouled by George Boateng.

McClaren, whose side play Aston Villa at the Riverside on Saturday, said: "The pressure on us has intensified since the Carling Cup final, now everywhere we go people see us as the Cup winners and want to beat us. That was the case here.

"We needed to move on but if we keep playing like that I will be happy. There is always pressure to finish as high as possible and we have gone out and tried to win games. We want to get into the top eight and see what we can achieve."

Result: Wolverhampton Wanderers 2 Middlesbrough 0.

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