Middlesbrough boss Steve McClaren remains focused on Premiership survival despite celebrating his first victory over former boss Alex Ferguson in the FA Cup fourth round today. The former Manchester United number two witnessed a late rally from his team as they launched a smash-and-grab raid on the Premiership champions to book their place in the next round of the Cup thanks to goals from Noel Whelan and Andy Campbell.
However, McClaren is already looking to next week's Premiership clash with Sunderland but admitted he thoroughly enjoyed today's shock result. "You ask anybody, to beat Manchester United is always sweet and satisfactory, but I want to go to Sunderland and get three points - and the next three points and the next three points," he said.
"As a football match, yes you enjoy it, especially with the second-half performance, but we've got to go on from here. If it doesn't help the players, there's got to be something wrong. Beating what I believe is the best team in the country should breed a lot of self-belief and confidence. If it doesn't, you'll find me strangling one or two of them," he added.
However, despite the brilliant result, McClaren admitted he had feared the worst as his team failed to impress in the opening 45 minutes. "We looked as if we were waiting to be beaten in the first half. We showed them far too much respect and we were very fortunate to come in at 0-0. In the second half, it was a combination of changing attitudes and really putting some passion into the cup tie because it was void of that in the first half," he said.
Not surprisingly, Ferguson was bitterly disappointed over the outcome of this tie. "I feel very disappointed, there's no question of that. It was a careless, scrappy performance by us. To give that game away is ridiculous. We should have won that game, we know that and I think everyone else knows that. We were careless and we've paid for it," he told Sky Sports.
Filed by Amanda Fennelly
