A SATISFIED Steve McClaren last night praised Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink and Mark Viduka after his tried and tested strike duo fired Middlesbrough towards the knockout phase of the UEFA Cup.

Hasselbaink's tenth-minute winner ensured a positive end to a testing few days for the Boro boss, with news of Abel Xavier's drugs ban having exacerbated the doom and gloom that accompanied last weekend's bore draw with Portsmouth.

Last night's display allied adventurous attacking to stout defending and justified McClaren's decision to switch to a 4-4-2 formation, with Viduka partnering Hasselbaink in attack.

"They compliment each other very well," said the Boro boss. "And experience was always going to be important (last night). Experience is one thing those two players have certainly got.

"It was nice to get Mark and Jimmy through a game because they haven't played 90 minutes for a long while.

"They need games, and we've got plenty coming up so they'll get them. I thought, in the first hour especially, they caused Grasshoppers all sorts of problems.

"At the start of last season, they played together for most of the first 20 games. We picked up 35 points and won 75 per cent of our games when they played together."

As well as containing their opponents, Middlesbrough's players had to contend with a hostile Swiss crowd inside the Hardturm Stadium.

Coins, cigarette lighters and a bottle opener were thrown at goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer throughout the second half, and McClaren was delighted at his side's composure in testing circumstances.

"You never know what to expect when you go away from home in Europe," he said. "We always set a target of keeping a clean sheet, and keeping our discipline so we finish with 11 players on the park.

"I thought the referee was excellent and our players responded well to that. They kept their emotions under control, even when they were being intimidated.

"I don't know what was thrown at Mark but, if it was money, it would be in his pocket by now."

Boro also started last season's UEFA Cup group stage with a 1-0 away win - in Aigaleo - and, with Ukrainian strugglers Dnipro due at the Riverside next month, a success in that game would leave Boro on the brink of the last 32.

"To come away and get a win in our first game sets us up extremely well for the rest of the group stage," said McClaren.

"We want to do well in this competition and we want to make sure we're still in the UEFA Cup come February."

l Roma got their Group E campaign off to a successful start with a 2-1 victory in freezing Tromso.

Leandro Cufre notched a late winner for the Italian side after Ole Martin Aarst had earlier cancelled out Samuel Kuffour's opener.

Hamburg enjoyed a 1-0 win at CSKA Sofia in Group A thanks to a superb strike from Rafael van der Vaart.

Read more about Middlesbrough here.