Goals from David Wheater and England winger Stewart Downing gave Middlesbrough a deserved 2-0 victory over Birmingham at the Riverside for a landmark 1,500th league win.
Wheater headed home Andrew Taylor's cross after just 12 minutes and Downing doubled the lead from close range nine minutes before the interval.
Strangely for a side normally so well-organised by Steve Bruce, Birmingham had little to offer in terms of resistance but having not won on Teesside for 27 years the result was probably no surprise.
Boro manager Gareth Southgate had praised his players after their 2-2 draw with Newcastle last weekend and he kept faith with the same players, while Sebastian Larsson for Gary McSheffrey was the only Birmingham change from their first league win of the season at Derby.
However, Boro's deadline day signing from Portsmouth Gary O'Neil missed out on a place in the squad after the late conclusion of his deal yesterday.
In the second minute centre-back Wheater broke into midfield and released Jeremie Aliadiere but Radhi Jaidi came across and the ball deflected back off the Frenchman for a goal-kick.
Luke Young's mistake in allowing the ball to roll off thinking it had not touched Woodgate gave Birmingham their first chance from a seventh-minute corner but Liam Ridgewell headed over Larsson's resulting cross.
Birmingham's untidy play was handing the initiative to the hosts and they were made to pay when they failed to clear Downing's 12th-minute corner.
Julio Arca's shot was half-blocked by Cameron Jerome and left-back Taylor picked up the loose ball and crossed for Wheater to head home from seven yards.
Aliadiere should have done better four minutes later when a counter-attack saw the former Arsenal striker cut in from the left but shoot tamely at Taylor, while at the other other end Jerome superbly controlled Ridgewell's 30-yard pass on his chest but could not follow it with a decent finish.
Aliadiere did better in the 23rd minute, forcing Maik Taylor to tip over after Arca had found space in front of Birmingham's back four.
Arca was continuing to pull the strings in midfield but when he uncharacteristically gave the ball away to Jerome just before the half-hour his blushes were spared when the striker fired straight at Mark Schwarzer with Mikael Forssell better placed to his left.
Fabrice Muamba was booked for a late challenge on Arca in the 31st minute before the visitors were torn apart again in the 36th minute.
Another Taylor cross from the left was headed back into the path of Downing by George Boateng and the unmarked England winger made no mistake from close range.
There was no sign Birmingham getting their act together early in the second half as, just two minutes in, Taylor was forced to hack the ball away after Jaidi's misplaced backpass had wrong-footed him.
And if Mido had been sharper the visitors could have been further behind when he chested down Downing's first-time left-wing cross but fired over left-footed from 12 yards.
The Egypt striker was off-target again, this time with a 53rd-minute header, from Rochemback's chip into the area before Aliadiere should have had the match wrapped up seconds later when he was put through on the right of the area but shot straight at Taylor.
Bruce had seen enough and made a triple substitution in the 55th minute with Larsson, Forssell and Muamba making way for McSheffrey, Garry O'Connor and Mehdi Nafti - and the latter's first contribution a booking for pulling down Mido.
Olivier Kapo's 25-yard off-target drive aside Middlesbrough continued to dominate and right-back Young saw his shot from Aliadiere's pull-back cleared off the goalline by Stephen Kelly.
Aliadiere continued to provide options up front and when he cut in from the left his deflected shot was tipped around the post low to his right by Taylor.
Kapo was booked for a trip on Mido as Birmingham struggled to offer little in terms of an attacking force and even when McSheffrey's low long-range strike had Schwarzer beaten it was wide of the post.
In the last minute substitute Dong Gook Lee slid the ball into the side-netting with the goal gaping after Downing's perfect cross - which was probably a fair assessment of the afternoon for both sides.
