MIDDLESBROUGH’S calamitous season plunged to a new low as they were ripped apart by a rampant Bournemouth.

Ten-man Boro crashed to a 4-0 defeat at the Vitality Stadium, with the defeat leaving them a mammoth nine points adrift of safety with just five games remaining.

Bournemouth outclassed the Teessiders from start to finish, with Josh King, Benik Afobe, Marc Pugh and Charlie Daniels all finding the target.

Boro were forced to play for more than 70 minutes after Gaston Ramirez, whose attitude was diabolical from the off, was sent off for two first-half bookings.

Steve Agnew’s side host Sunderland, the only team below them in the Premier League table on Wednesday, but the Tees-Wear derby is now effectively a dead rubber, with both North-East teams seemingly destined for relegation.

Agnew clearly wanted to keep things tight, hence his reversion to a five-man defence with Calum Chambers and George Friend returning to the backline. However, his best-laid plans were wrecked within two minutes.

Boro had barely even touched the ball when they fell behind, with Pugh and Daniels combing to rip the right-hand side of the Teessiders’ defence apart.

The duo’s one-two allowed Pugh to skip around Antonio Barragan, and when he pulled the ball back to the edge of the six-yard box, King calmly slotted home.

Boro were all over the place from the off, and Ramirez was rightly booked in the 14th minute for a dive in the penalty area. It was an offence that was to have serious consequences a few minutes later.

By the time Ramirez was dismissed for a second bookable offence, Boro were two goals behind. Bournemouth’s midfielders were swarming all over their opponents in the final third, and Agnew’s side simply could not cope.

Trying to play the ball out of defence in the 16th minute, Boro were caught cold when Adam Clayton was tackled by Harry Arter close to the edge of the area. The ball broke kindly for Afobe, who advanced to slot past Brad Guzan.

King came close to adding a third goal moments later as he latched on to Pugh’s back-heel before shooting into the side netting, and Boro were reduced to ten men with the game barely 20 minutes old.

Ramirez was slightly unfortunate to pick up a second yellow card as he barely made contact with Pugh as he lunged at the midfielder close to the corner flag. However, given that he was already on a booking, it was a senseless challenge for the Uruguayan to be making.

Marten de Roon at least showed some signs of a positive fight when he lashed in a dipping half-volley that Artur Boruc turned wide, but that proved to be the Dutchman’s last meaningful act as he picked up an ankle problem that forced him from the field.

That resulted in Boro lining up with a makeshift formation that featured Fabio da Silva playing on the right of midfield, and Bournemouth almost extended their first-half lead when Arter fired in a 20-yard drive that was saved by Guzan on the stroke of half-time.

The Teessiders came close at the start of the second half when Daniel Ayala headed Stewart Downing’s corner over the crossbar, but it was always going to be a huge ask for them to get back into the game and Bournemouth quickly reasserted their dominance.

Guzan made two excellent saves, keeping out Afobe’s point-blank header and clawing Ryan Fraser’s shot around the post, but the American was beaten for a third time in the 65th minute.

Clayton again conceded possession in his own half, Lewis Cook found Pugh in space on the left-hand side, and the Bournemouth midfielder cut inside Chambers before curling a sensational strike into the bottom right-hand corner.

That was an excellent goal, but an even better one was to follow six minutes later. Fraser rolled a free-kick to Daniels, and after skipping past Clayton, the Cherries play-maker lashed home a great low strike from 20 yards.

Bournemouth (4-4-2): Boruc; Smith, Francis, S Cook, Daniels; Fraser (Stanislas 72), Gosling (L Cook 44), Arter, Pugh; Afobe, King (Mousset 84).

Subs (not used): Allsop (gk), Mings, Cargill, Gradel.

Middlesbrough (5-3-1-1): Guzan; Barragan (Forshaw 23), Chambers, Gibson, Ayala, Friend; de Roon (Fabio 38), Clayton, Downing; Ramirez; Negredo (Gestede 80).

Subs (not used): Konstantopoulos (gk), Bernardo, Traore, Stuani.