IT is incredible to believe that the professionalism of Middlesbrough's Mark Schwarzer is such that, after his own personal wonder show, he was left discussing the one that got away.

Victory was secured with the help of a series of fantastic saves, yet Schwarzer and goalkeeping coach Paul Barron's first talking point afterwards was Mikael Forssell's second goal of the game.

With an hour on the clock Forssell rose to head a Martin Grainger cross goalwards. After rebounding off the post the ball rolled straight for Boro's No 1 before hitting his legs and crossing the line.

The path of the ball obviously took Schwarzer by surprise; after all exceptional or fluke strikes were the only way the big Australian was going to be beaten.

He made four world-class saves in a bizarre opening 45 minutes alone - a display hailed by Blues boss Steve Bruce as 'staggering'. It was hard to believe he could be that good when conceding three goals, but he was.

Yet after being greeted by Barron with a quick embrace the two - who in recent years have put the effort in to improve Schwarzer's kicking - wanted to talk about Birmingham's bizarre third.

"Paul Barron works very hard with him," said manager Steve McClaren.

"Despite getting the man of the match award, despite making so many terrific saves, and despite his heroics it is typical of Paul and the coaching staff here that he would question the third goal and want to know why Mark didn't keep it out.

"That is entirely characteristic and I know Mark will have expected it as he walked off. Perfectionist is certainly a term I would use to describe him."

The pick of Schwarzer's heroics was a sensational one-handed save to tip a close-range header from fellow Aussie Stan Lazaridis on to the bar when Boro were 2-1 up after 25 minutes.

There were further stops before the interval which left the visitors stunned. First he denied Forssell when he connected with Damien Johnson's cross with his head.

Then Bryan Hughes's left-foot effort was pushed away by Schwarzer, who was called immediately into action again when his full-stretched left arm turned away Lazaridis' 20-yard drive for a corner.

A modest Schwarzer, who has never looked back since an embarrassing error in the Carling Cup final, simply hailed his display as 'part and parcel of the job'.

"Things like what happened in Cardiff occur from time to time and now I think the fact that goal went in was a good thing," said Schwarzer. "Mentally it does test you and I have found it has made me stronger.

"To go from making a bad mistake at Cardiff (when Kevin Davies scored) and moving on is something I have really worked hard at trying to do. At times it is a mental thing.

"My favourite save was the header from Stan. Before the game I spoke to him in the tunnel and told him I was going to make sure he did not score because we are due to meet up on international duty next week and I could not take the stick."

On any ordinary day Massimo Maccarone would have been the one receiving all the attention.

After flattering to deceive since arriving as Boro's record £8.15m buy in the summer of 2002, he has been labelled 'Missimo' by many of the club's supporters.

But those same fans gave the young Italian a standing ovation when he was replaced with 14 minutes remaining after a highly-committed afternoon that saw him grab two goals.

Now McClaren wants to see him hit that level consistently. He said: "Massimo has the ability and it is entirely up to him to produce that every week.

"The fans love his whole-hearted commitment and attitude, as we saw, and on top of that he got a couple of goals. He knows what is required and what we want from him and he is learning. He is still young and this was a big hurdle for him."

Maccarone, a surprise inclusion up front alongside Joseph Job, had a major part in the opening goal with just four minutes gone.

The former Empoli man's leap with Matthew Upson allowed Juninho to take control before finding Gazika Mendieta in space.

The Spaniard, who had previously scored only one goal for Boro, struck a low right-foot drive into Maik Taylor's bottom right corner.

For 16 minutes it was relatively quiet, but then the action really began to unfold. Mendieta turned provider when he was freed down the right by Job's neat flick-on.

The midfielder's cross was turned in by Maccarone for his first goal since January 10 and only his third Premiership strike of the campaign.

Within two minutes City were back in it when Forssell was afforded too much space and he was allowed to pick his spot and curl beyond Schwarzer.

After Schwarzer denied Lazaridis Boro restored their two- goal cushion on the half hour when Gareth Southgate was on hand to nick his first goal of the season after Danny Mills had knocked down Mendieta's corner.

But Birmingham bounced back again when Clinton Morrison reacted first to a loose ball, after Schwarzer had parried a Forssell strike, and picked his spot.

The response from Boro was immediate. The impressive Mendieta played a delightful cross-field ball to Maccarone and the lively striker cut inside his man before unleashing an unstoppable right- foot drive into the top left corner from a difficult angle. Four shots on target, four goals for Boro.

After the restart it only took quarter of an hour for normal service to resume when Forssell scored with his freak header off Schwarzer's legs.

The Boro keeper denied Birmingham's top-scorer - on loan from Chelsea - his hat-trick and then Lazardis a goal before Boro wrapped things up in the final minute.

A costly slip from Matthew Upson - a rival to Southgate for an England place this summer - allowed Szilard Nemeth in on goal.

The Slovakian rounded Taylor before tapping in his third goal in four substitute appearances since missing out on Boro's big day out at the Millennium Stadium on February 9.

Eight goals and there could quite easily have been more. McClaren's men are back in the top ten and are just three points adrift of eighth-placed Aston Villa.

Revenge for their 3-1 drubbing at St Andrews earlier this month was achieved and the Carling Cup trophy is sitting well in the Riverside cabinet. And who knows? - Boro's highest ever Premiership finish could still be on the cards under McClaren.

Result: Middlesbrough 5 Birmingham City 3.

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