More heartache on Teesside

By Saturday evening, after a last-minute shock that was as dramatic as it was disastrous, the equipment was ready to be put to the test. Forget individual suffering, though. When it comes to resuscitation requirements, it is Boro's strife-filled season that needs to be brought back to life.

Three points clear of relegation and without a Premiership win since November 20, these are testing times for a club that began the season with genuine aspirations of qualification for the Champions League.

A place in the last 32 of the UEFA Cup underlines Boro's continuing capabilities but, given their dreadful domestic record, it is not next month's trip to Stuttgart that is dominating the thought process on Teesside. With the Premiership trapdoor looming large, it is the possibility of a trip to Southend that is focusing the mind.

Make no mistake about it, Steve McClaren's men are embroiled in a relegation battle that threatens to erase all the progress achieved under the England number two in his four-and-a-half-years at the club. Carling Cup, Europe, top-seven finish - none of that will count for anything if the Boro boss is unable to dig his side out of the hole they currently inhabit.

McClaren is still to use the 'r' word himself but, after watching Neil Mellor's 93rd-minute winner cancel out his side's spirited second-half recovery, he came as close as he is likely to. Semantics aside, the Yorkshireman is not about to plead ignorance to his side's obvious plight.

"The long-term planning is put to one side now," said McClaren, who spirited his players away to a training camp in Spain yesterday. "The starting point of any season is always to get the points you need to be safe and, in a sense, this is no different. We are normally ahead of where we are at the moment though.

"We're in a scrap and we have to scrap our way out of it. We're in a battle and everybody knows that. We have to turn things around by grinding out results, but we're determined to do just that.

"These are testing times for everybody involved in this football club. But it's a time when everybody has to stick together and not panic.

"The answers are here in this dressing room. I'd be very, very worried if I hadn't seen the reaction that I did from the players."

Perhaps, rather than reflecting on the reaction, McClaren should focus on why it was required in the first place.

In the build-up to Saturday's game, the Boro boss revealed he had not forced his players to watch a video of last weekend's Highbury humiliation. By the end of the opening 45 minutes, they had provided a re-run of their own.

Rarely can a Middlesbrough side have defended so poorly. All the spirit in the world will count for nothing if Boro's defenders continue to make the kind of elementary errors that peppered their play at the weekend.

Emanuel Pogatetz was the chief culprit, with the Austrian full-back displaying a positional ineptitude that would have made most schoolboys blush. He repeatedly played Wigan's lively attackers on-side and failed to close down Gary Teale to the extent that the rakish right winger seemed to have a three-yard exclusion zone around him.

Matthew Bates was equally ineffective on the opposite flank, but at least the teenager has the excuse of being a centre-half played out of position. Pogatetz is an established international masquerading as a dithering debutant.

He stood idly by as Teale delivered yet another dangerous cross in the 29th minute, enabling the impressive David Thompson to steal ahead of Bates at the back post and double his side's lead. Earlier, the entire Boro backline had stood motionless as Jason Roberts had raced onto Mellor's through ball to score with a fiercely-hit shot that Brad Jones should have really saved.

"Our defence has been our platform for the last four years but, at the moment, it's not functioning as we would like," admitted McClaren. "We have to stop conceding so many goals.

"We've always prided ourselves on our defensive record - at the moment, it's not good enough. The reasons for that? We haven't really had a settled back four through injuries, but we can all make excuses.

"The crux of the matter is that we need to work hard on the training field to prevent the type of goals we are conceding. Clean sheets will get you results - they've never been more important than they are now."

And yet, for all of their failings, Boro so nearly turned things around. The catalyst for their recovery was the imperious Stewart Downing. If there are any positives to be gleaned from the debacle, it is that the 20-year-old winger is primed to lead a revival.

Making his first senior appearance since August's knee operation, Downing combined his trademark delicate deliveries with a willingness to work suggesting he is on the mend.

His impact inevitably waned as the game entered its final throes but, given the length of his lay-off, that was only to be expected. After all, he had pretty much carried his team-mates to that point anyway.

Both Boro goals came from Downing corners - the first headed home by substitute Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink and the second converted by Yakubu after Gareth Southgate had flicked on at the front post - and the youngster's general demeanour spoke of a powerful desire to make up for lost time.

"He looked lively and gave us another dimension," said McClaren. "He was only meant to play for 60 minutes, but that's just the way things happen. It's good to see him back and he gave us a lift."

Ultimately, though, Downing's efforts counted for nothing once Mellor provided a dramatic denouement. Jimmy Bullard's stoppage-time corner was only half-cleared by Ray Parlour and, when the midfielder crossed again, Mellor reacted quickest to stab home Robert's instinctive backheel.

By that stage, defribulation would have been ineffective. After all that had happened, Middlesbrough hearts were well and truly broken.

Result: Middlesbrough 2, Wigan Athletic 3.

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