THE lift that Terry Venables has given players and fans alike is still being felt this week.

Boro not only earned their first home win in this season's Premiership on Satur-day but the level of performance also gave real hope that the dreaded drop into Nationwide football can be avoided.

Venables, however, is rem-aining cautious. He said: "Saturday was excellent in terms of the result and the effort from the players. It is going to be difficult for them, adapting to the ideas I put forward, and with the squad badly affected by injuries and suspensions - but they did all I asked of them."

Bryan Robson spent the 90 minutes in the directors' box but he is still very much in charge - albeit with the considerable help of Venables.

"We are working well together and I am really enjoying the experience of learning from Terry," Rob-son said. "It was a partnership that did well for England in 1996 and I have been pleased how easily we have settled into working together again.

"There are no firm guidelines as to who does what. All we care about is the future of Boro and that the team stays up," he added.

Noel Whelan, who helped to lead the line against Chelsea, was delighted with the points. He said: "The backing of the fans was tremendous. After all the setbacks this season it wouldn't have been a surprise if they had lost a bit of faith in us. But they have stuck with us and now it's up to us to try to get a run together."

The festive period could be crucial. Whelan said: "We have some big games, starting with Spurs tomorrow and Liverpool on Boxing Day, but some good results will see us moving up the table.

"After the Christmas games it's two sides I used to play for in Coventry and Leeds. I still keep in touch with happenings at both clubs, but naturally I am determined that it will be Boro getting the points."

Hopefully it will be a point-filled festive season for all Boro fans.

By Alistair Brownle