Under the temporary charge of Mark Venus, Middlesbrough romped past Doncaster Rovers 4-0 in their first game since the sacking of Tony Mowbray.
In-form Albert Adomah put Boro ahead with a classy chip before scoring his fifth goal in three games to make it two before half time.
Kei Kamara and Daniel Ayala, on his debut, added further goals in the second half as Venus made a strong case to take the job full time.
Here, Sports Mole casts its eye over a rousing display from Boro in front of a sparse Riverside.
Match statistics:
Boro:
Shots 21
On target 8
Possession 44%
Corners 6
Fouls 12
Donny:
Shots 7
On target 1
Possession 56%
Corners 5
Fouls 10
Was the result fair?
Oh yes. Donny had their brief spells of nice play but for the most part it was all Boro. The front four of Adomah, Kamara, Marvin Emnes and Mustapha Carayol were quick and inventive, giving Donny's backline a torrid evening. A welcome win and a good performance to boot.
Middlesbrough's performance
As mentioned, the front four were electric all night and the link-up play between Kamara and Emnes in attack was particularly impressive. At the back, Ayala helped his new club to a clean sheet and scored a simple header to cap off a perfect defensive debut.
Doncaster's performance
Paul Dickov's side weren't that bad tonight, but were undone by Adomah's early brilliance before slowly unravelling over the following 83 minutes. Mark Duffy was Donny's stand-out player on the left of midfield. He was assured on the ball all night and the visitors' biggest threat going forward.
Sports Mole's man of the match
Albert Adomah: It could have gone to any of Boro's front four but Adomah edges it for his two very well-taken goals. The first was a delightful lob similar to Ramires's for Chelsea in the Camp Nou against Barcelona the season before last while the second was an excellent attacking header into the ground that gave Ross Turnbull no chance.
Biggest gaffe
There were no obvious gaffes tonight but when Donny skipper Rob Jones met Duffy's corner with the score at 2-0, he should have halved the deficit but somehow flashed his header wide from six yards.
Referee performance
Michael Naylor's record this season is a lenient one and he only dished out two bookings tonight. Boro may count themselves slightly lucky not to have had at least one man sent off in the first half as both Richard Smallwood and Grant Leadbitter lunged in nastily and could have seen red.
What next?
Boro: Will Venus still be in charge when Boro travel to Blackburn in eight days' time?
Donny: Dickov's Donny will look to get back to winning ways when they host Brighton on the same day.
Pascal Lemesre
