IN popular parlance, being sent to Coventry implies being shunned or ignored.

Nobody is going to ignore the seriousness of Middlesbrough's plight at the foot of the Premiership table but, after last night's 5-2 win over Nuneaton, this month's trip to the Ricoh Arena at least provides the opportunity to forget about league concerns for a little while longer.

The cups have provided the only solace in an otherwise strife-filled season at the Riverside and, while beating non-League opposition at the second time of asking is hardly a cause for celebration, Steve McClaren's men can still point to the FA Cup as a possible source of salvation.

In the end, a comfortable three-goal win over a Nuneaton side that were unable to match the heights they scaled ten days ago was no less than Boro deserved for a performance that was as professional as last weekend's display against Arsenal was pathetic.

But, while a brace for Yakubu and further goals from Chris Riggott, Stuart Parnaby and Mark Viduka banished the memories of this month's slog at Manor Park, the victory was not enough to dispel the unease that currently envelops Teesside. Wigan's visit on Saturday will be far more fraught than this.

The fourth round of the FA Cup is nothing to be sniffed at, but last weekend's hammering at Highbury continues to leave a sour taste at the Riverside.

The five points that separate Boro from the relegation zone hardly represent a significant safety cushion given a winless run that extends to almost two months in the Premiership, and the sense of crisis is only heightened by the limited resources at Steve McClaren's disposal.

The Boro boss insisted there would be no knee-jerk reaction to what happened in North London and, given the unavailability of a host of key names, it is just as well he resisted the temptation to make wholesale changes.

Too much tinkering, and last night's game would have resembled an FA Youth Cup tie rather than its senior equivalent.

As it was, Boro stuck with just the four teenagers, with Lee Cattermole and Adam Johnson replacing the injured James Morrison and the ineffectual Fabio Rochemback to join Matthew Bates and Andrew Taylor.

Nuneaton, roared on by 5,000 travelling fans singing "We want seven", had concerns of their own.

Last weekend's 3-0 defeat at Redditch dented their hopes of promotion from the Nationwide Conference North.

How their manager, Roger Ashby, must dream of having McClaren's conundrums to solve.

What Ashby has, instead, is a squad that combines unstinting effort with a belligerent refusal to accept their supposed inferiority. For the second game in a row, that combination was enough to unsettle the home side's Premiership performers.

As in the first leg, Nuneaton's talisman was striker Gez Murphy.

The sports development officer had run both Riggott and Gareth Southgate ragged in the mud of Manor Park, and he was at it again after just four minutes of last night's return.

Racing onto Matty Collins' header, he held off Riggott with ease before forcing a smart low save from Brad Jones. Any Boro hopes of an easy evening had been quickly dispelled.

They were banished even further three minutes later - Brian Quailey seizing on confusion in the home side's defence to fire a left-footed strike narrowly wide - and only when Viduka tested Darren Acton with a 20th-minute half-volley, did Boro even come close to matching their visitors' early invention.

For more than half-an-hour, there was nothing to choose between the two sides but, just as the Teessiders looked to be entirely devoid of ideas, they fashioned a goal from absolutely nothing.

Bates prodded a ball between Nuneaton's two centre-halves and Riggott, still loitering despite the clearance of a corner, calmly lobbed the advancing Acton.

Eight minutes later, and the visitors' resistance was finally broken once and for all.

Yakubu played in Gaizka Mendieta, only for Stuart Whittaker to bundle over the Spanish midfielder just he was about to shoot. Yakubu had done precious little to that point, but the Nigerian calmly dispatched the penalty past Acton's left hand.

The two-goal advantage made for a distinctly one-sided start to the second half, with Boro pulling even further ahead five minutes after the break.

The Nuneaton defence was unable to clear Johnson's left-wing cross and, on his 52nd senior start, Parnaby broke his goalscoring duck from 22 yards.

With the floodgates well and truly open, the home side spent most of the second period belatedly asserting their superiority and a fourth goal duly arrived shortly before the hour mark.

Yakubu galloped clear down the inside-left channel and, while his bundled shot was hardly the sweetest he will ever strike, it was still good enough to trundle into the far right-hand corner of the net.

Viduka made it five shortly after, ramming the ball home from close range after Cattermole's through ball had fortuitously deflected off Yakubu's back, but Nuneaton claimed the consolation they so richly deserved 19 minutes from time.

It will not be a goal Jones wishes to remember for long, with the Boro goalkeeper charging from his line to head a hanging clearance from his opposite number, Acton, only to miss the ball completely and leave Murphy to nod into a gaping, unguarded net.

Things got even better for the part-timers in the 86th minute, with Murphy grabbing his third goal of the tie from the penalty spot.

Substitute Ray Parlour felled the striker and, after picking himself up from the turf, Murphy showed the same composure he had displayed in the first game to reduce Nuneaton's arrears.

l Birmingham eased some of the pressure on manager Steve Bruce with a 2-0 victory over Coca-Cola League Two side Torquay in their FA Cup third-round replay.

Mikael Forssell had Blues' best chance of the first half when he hit the post in the 25th minute from Julian Gray's cross.

But there was a sigh of relief around St Andrews when, in the 61st minute, on-loan Chelsea midfielder Jiri Jarosik stuck out his leg to deflect in Neil Kilkenny's shot.

Forssell made the match safe for the Barclays Premiership strugglers with the second nine minutes from time.

League Two Cheltenham set up a dream fourth-round tie at home to Newcastle with a 1-0 victory at Chester.

John Melligan's 52nd-minute corner was not cleared properly, and Kayode Odejayi fired home.

Walsall moved into the next round, overcoming League One rivals Barnsley 2-0.

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