MIDDLESBROUGH’S one-season stay in the Premier League is officially over after losing at Chelsea, and head coach Steve Agnew has revealed the extent of the devastation felt inside the away dressing room at Stamford Bridge.

Boro’s 3-0 defeat at the league leaders was enough to confirm Championship football will return to Teesside in August because they are seven points adrift of safety with only two matches remaining.

Middlesbrough’s homegrown defender Ben Gibson described immediately afterwards how it was the “lowest moment of my life” after being unable to prevent the fall out of the top tier having worked so hard over the last few years to secure a return.

Now Middlesbrough have to focus on trying to revive a deflated club which has followed Sunderland’s relegation from the top tier.

Agnew, whose own future remains up in the air, admits the focus has to immediately to turn to getting Middlesbrough back up at the first attempt – knowing they had to wait seven years to seal promotion last time around.

He said: “Everybody is devastated, we worked so hard for a number of years to get back into the Premier League and we know how tough the Premier League is, but we pulled up short.

“I have left a very silent dressing room. Everyone in there, staff and players, are absolutely gutted. We can only reflect on the 36 games we have played, the bottom line is we have not won enough or scored enough goals.”

Agnew was handed the reins after taking over from Aitor Karanka in March and he has led the team to six points from the last 27 points available, winning one and drawing three from the nine games.

There has never been much clarification over his future from the boardroom, but Agnew did not want to focus on whether he will be still be in charge beyond this season. Former Newcastle boss Alan Pardew, who was at Stamford Bridge, is the latest to have been linked with the post.

“It is not about my situation, it is about the football club,” he said. “We all know it is a Premier League football club, the supporters, the training ground, the infrastructure is all there.

“The most important thing is we finish strongly. We have two games to go, we gain more points to finish strongly, then everything moving forward will be focused on Middlesbrough getting back in the Premier League.

“The task ahead is to put a performance on for the supporters in the home game against Southampton. We have to recover very quickly, we will be in tomorrow and reflect on the performance, close it down very quickly.”

Ben Gibson, who has a number of top-flight clubs courting his signature, will arguably have felt relegation more than most given his hometown roots.

The 24-year-old said: “It’s not down to tonight – it’s the full season. From top to bottom, we haven’t been good enough. That’s everyone. That’s every player, every member of staff, myself – we haven’t been good enough. It’s not about tonight, it’s the whole season.

“Chelsea were much better than us in every department. It could have been five or six in the end. It’s a bad night, a really bad season.

“It’s not just the lowest point of my career, it’s the lowest point of my life. It’s the same for all the boys in there. It’s time to reflect now. The fans never stopped singing, and they deserve Premier League football. We haven’t given them that.

“We have to reflect on what’s gone wrong. We have to put our fingers on it, and look to produce better.”

He added: “It’s hard to reflect, but it’s a season of not being good enough – everyone at this football club, me included.

“We take the plaudits as promoted, but we have failed. Devastated. There’s loads of reasons why we aren’t good enough, it will all come out in the wash it always does. We have to think about it. It’s not been good enough, I take blame myself.

“We have to make sure we bounce back a lot stronger since last time we got relegated.’’

Gibson was keen to apologise to the supporters too afterwards, and the players all went over to the travelling fans to applaud them. Despite relegation, the supporters respectfully clapped back.

That impressed Chelsea boss Antonio Conte. He said: “It was great to see a team that was relegated, to see the fans clap the players, and to see them clapped.

“It is great to have that respect. I think you can only get that situation in England. In Italy it would be difficult to see a team relegated get that reaction. It is a beautiful reaction from the fans so I felt in my heart to clap and to say good luck for next season to Middlesbrough fans.”

If Chelsea go to West Brom on Friday and win then they will win the Premier League.

Conte added: “For sure now I am relaxed. This step was a big step for us. A big win at this stage of the season. To win is big. Now we need to do another step.

“We have the possibility to do this on Friday against West Brom, who are a physical and really good team. For sure today we made a big step and we have to be honest.”