WELCOME to management, Mr McClaren. If ever there was a baptism of fire, this was it.

Steve McClaren, the chosen one to succeed Bryan Robson as Middlesbrough boss, was taught the harshest of lessons in his first competitive game in charge.

When the fixture computer threw up Arsene Wenger's Arsenal as first-day visitors, many on Teesside must have feared a drubbing such as this.

After all, the Gunners have developed a penchant in recent years for blowing Boro apart. Three seasons ago, they inflicted a 6-1 massacre here and the following term beat Robson's side 5-1 at Highbury.

Yet with five minutes to go on Saturday, McClaren's men were still very much in contention against opposition left short-handed by the 51st-minute dismissal of Ray Parlour.

With his side a goal to the good at half-time through Thierry Henry's superb opportunist strike three minutes before the break, England midfielder Parlour made life harder for his teammates when he was sent off for a second bookable offence.

Parlour, cautioned in the opening period for a foul on Dean Windass, saw red after bringing down England colleague Ugo Ehiogu.

It was ironic, then, that it was centre-back Ehiogu, Boro's £8m record signing, who changed the course of the game irrevocably in the 85th minute when he too headed for the dreaded early bath after being at the centre of a penalty which should never have been awarded.

Referee Graham Barber, now classed as a professional official, displayed amateurish judgement in banishing Ehiogu for a challenge on Ashley Cole which was deemed to have denied the Arsenal left-back a goalscoring opportunity.

England starlet Cole went down as he homed in on goal through the middle, with Ehiogu in close pursuit. TV replays clearly showed that not only was there scarcely contact, but what there was took place outside the penalty area.

But Boro's protests were in vain and Robert Pires dispatched the resulting spot-kick to trigger an astonishing late goal spree by the Wenger boys. Dennis Bergkamp, a 73rd-minute replacement for Henry, scored the second of what proved to be three goals in as many minutes as dispirited Boro disintegrated.

Bergkamp, something of a peripheral figure at Arsenal these days, provided compelling proof that he still has the touch of a Dutch master in front of goal.

He scored only three times in the Premiership last season, but bagged a brace in the space of a minute on this occasion, breaking clear on the end of through-balls from Cole and then Pires in the 88th and 89th minutes, to leave McClaren shell-shocked.

"This was a reality check, a wake-up call,'' conceded the new man. "We came across a side which will challenge for the title this season and we have to take this defeat on the chin.''

It was a whole new experience for McClaren, who quit as Sir Alex Ferguson's assistant at Manchester United to join the managerial ranks with Boro. "It feels no different whether you're No 1 or No 2,'' said McClaren.

"No-one wants to get beaten, but it's a feeling you have many times in football. Sunderland were beaten 4-0 on the opening day of the season at Chelsea a couple of years ago, but it didn't do them any harm.

"I always knew it was going to be a big task here. I've been very pleased with the way the players have worked and nothing that has happened in this game has dispelled that. I'm still very confident that we can progress and get better.''

McClaren, like predecessor Robson at one time, is juggling the dual responsibility of managing Boro and coaching England.

But he was quick to refute any suggestion that his time spent with the national side in the build-up to the Premiership kick-off might have had a detrimental effect on Boro's performance.

"I don't think me being here all week would have helped any more,'' maintained McClaren. "I've got excellent staff to continue the work ethic we've set. That's now engraved in stone here.

"We had important players on international duty as well, so I don't think we could have done any more. I don't think there was anything wrong with the preparation.

"We've just got to make sure we learn from this result. It shows the gulf between the top of the Premiership and the rest. I was pleased for 85 minutes, but in the last five we let ourselves down. We tried to keep going forward and we were punished.

"I thought the penalty was a little harsh, but the referee has to abide by the rules.''

McClaren's words are those of a patient man, who knows only time will tell whether he has what it takes to be a top-flight boss.

But the empty seats around the Riverside Stadium, where only 22,000 season tickets have been sold, is alarming evidence that the patience of the fans has already begun to wear thin before McClaren is even given the chance to prove his worth.

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