West Ham United 2 Middlesbrough 1p DESPITE appearing inevitable for several weeks, it made the confirmation no less painful for players and fans alike.

When supporters wanted Middlesbrough to fight for their Premier League futures they instead went out with a whimper.

Never mind Survival Sunday it was more Surrender Sunday at Upton Park as defeat ended Boro’s 11-season run in top-flight English football.

In the end a win would probably not have been enough – they would have needed to beat West Ham by four goals to have stayed up.

After going a goal behind just after the half hour – an unmarked Carlton Cole finishing Herita Illunga’s cross – Boro offered a glimmer of hope when Gary O’Neill equalised shortly after the break.

But, as they have done so often this campaign, they threw away their chance as West Ham went up the other end and scored a scruffy goal through Junior Stanislas, which slipped through Brad Jones’ fingers.

An awful season ended awfully, with Boro only kept off bottom spot on goal difference.

The omens weren’t good to begin with. There were 11 successive away league defeats to contend with, along with the small matter of failing to score in eight of their last ten away league games.

At least they managed to register, which at half-time looked unlikely. They never seriously threatened in the opening half, despite creating their first chance within three minutes.

It was two minutes 25 seconds into the game that chance was spurned by Adam Johnson, who fired over at the far post from 12 yards.

The quarter hour mark arrived and Boro’s game plan was clearly not to get at the Hammers from the kick-off.

Johnson’s effort aside there was precious little activity in and around Robert Green’s penalty box.

Johnson was prepared to run at the West Ham defence but he was in a minority of one. Their opponents weren’t much better in the opening quarter hour but Brad Jones was woken up soon afterwards.

Firstly Radoslav Kovac shot straight at him from 25 yards then Stanislas’ effort from the edge of the area ballooned off David Wheater and crashed off the crossbar, leaving Jones rooted to the spot.

Boro’s real grafters in the opening half hour were Southgate and his assistant Steve Agnew, bellowing instructions that appeared to be falling on deaf ears.

Set pieces appeared Boro’s best hope and when Green flapped at a McMahon freekick under pressure from Robert Huth just after the half hour, Wheater could only direct his header well over from the edge of the area.

With chances at a premium Boro could ill-afford to spurn them, a fact which was hammered home three minutes later.

Luis Boa Morte played a simple ball inside McMahon to the overlapping Illunga and his cross to the far post was easily directed past Jones.

Boro were almost at the point of needing snookers now.

At half-time the other results were going the Teessiders’ way but Southgate’s side appeared incapable of scoring once, never mind three of four times.

Heroes were needed and the PA announcer appeared to be rubbing it in to the near 1,500 away following by playing David Bowie’s song of the same name for the second time of the afternoon.

More fitting for the Boro fans would have been Down Down by Status Quo. Southgate replaced the ineffective Julio Arca and Tony McMahon with Josh Walker and 19-year-old Joe Bennett, the Rochdale-born left-back making his first appearance for the club.

But just when it all seemed over Boro decided to start playing. There were only four minutes on the clock after the break when Tuncay picked up possession in a central area. As the West Ham players backed off and the Boro fans screamed for a shot he picked out O’Neil on the right side of the box for the midfielder to crash a shot across Green and into the far corner.

The away fans sang and danced and hope was in the air – for all of eight minutes. Jones appeared to have a low 20-yard daisy cutter from Stanislas covered but his hands were all over the ball rather than behind it as it squirmed beneath his grasp and over the line.

There was no mass exodus at the away end – they had come a long way after all – and they may have been witnessing a future star in the shape of Bennett, who produced a superbly-timed challenge on substitute Kieron Dyer as he was about to shoot in the box. Anyone who saw Dyer at Newcastle may have felt he was better off just letting the injury-prone midfielder have a crack at goal.

And that was just about that. An 11-year spell in the top flight was over and the fans’ hopes that the players would at least go down scrapping appeared forlorn. It even took until the 87th minute for a Boro player to get a yellow card, O’Neil flying into Diego Tristan.

Boro were simply not good enough over the 38-game season. Their last real hope ended with the defeat at St James’ Park and it was only the dross that surrounds them in the lower reaches of the league kept their season alive until the final day.