MIDDLESBROUGH defender Colin Cooper last night hailed the Terry Venables-inspired victory over Chelsea as "two results in one.''

With new head coach Venables taking the reins from manager Bryan Robson, Boro claimed their first home League success for nearly nine months and also kept their first clean sheet this season.

"It's a big relief,'' admitted Cooper. "The win here has been a long time coming, especially for the fans.

"This result was massive. If I'm honest, I have to say it's come sooner than most of us expected - maybe Terry and the gaffer included.

"We've only had one week with Terry on the training ground, so there hasn't been much time for him to put over what he wants us to do. That's going to take time to implement.

"What he has done is instil confidence. He also came in and asked us to pass the ball and work as a team.

"He was aware of the fear factor when we've played at home this season. He sees strength as being both physical and mental.

"In a way, we've had two results in one - the clean sheet and the home win.''

Boro had picked up only one point from the previous 27 and Cooper, who won his two England caps under Venables, admitted: "It's been frustrating the amount of times we've lost by the odd goal.

"This time it's nice because we've won by the only goal. We were on a knife-edge right to the end, but luckily we scraped through.

"We're off the bottom of the table, but this win doesn't make a great deal of difference to our situation.

"Things won't be done overnight and everybody has got to be patient

"We're back in on Monday morning and we'll learn more from Terry. He's gone back to basics with us. That's how he wants us to get out of this problem.

"He's been drumming things into us over and over again, about being offensive and defensive, and it'll take repetition, week after week, for us to understand what we need.

"He did that with England and he's doing it here. He's getting the best out of people.''

Dean Gordon's 71st-minute first goal of the season gave Boro victory, but Cooper confessed: "There were times when I thought we wouldn't score. Dean's shot took a deflection, but maybe the luck we didn't get when we lost at Sunderland the week before came our way this time.''

Venables, meanwhile, was delighted with the performance of midfielder Paul Okon.

The Australian made his first appearance since breaking a foot in the home defeat by Leeds in late August.

Venables said: "He was involved when I was in charge of Australia.

"But he had a really bad knee injury and he's done brilliantly to get over it.

"He looked bright on Saturday and did very well for me. He got hold of the ball and that's what we've got to do.

"We've got to play when we've got it.''