SO, end of season games don't matter?

Middlesbrough started Saturday afternoon in 13th place, and by 5pm they were up to tenth.

If they can somehow beat a Bolton side fighting for their Premiership lives at the Reebok next weekend, they could possibly finish as high as eighth.

It won't mean a European spot - Boro still have to wait to discover if the English League takes the very complicated UEFA Cup Fair Play spot - but a climb of five places in the Premiership table is worth a little over £2.5m in prize money.

In the current climate that is not to be sniffed at, and will probably bring in a more than useful acquisition to the Boro squad this summer.

A striker it won't be. A departure from the forward department appeared likely in the summer, even after Alen Boksic bid a less than fond farewell to Teesside.

The arrival of Malcolm Christie and Michael Ricketts indicated that either Massimo Maccarone or Szilard Nemeth would be following the Croat out the door.

Not so says Steve McClaren.

"We value every one of our strikers," said the Boro boss. "The competition for places is always valuable so hopefully we can keep them all."

On Saturday Nemeth and Maccarone played like their futures depended on their performances - whether or not that future is at the Riverside. Nemeth had a hand in the first two goals, before scoring the third, and Maccarone came off the bench at half-time to claim numbers four and five.

Not a bad way to end a goal drought that stretched back to the 3-0 win over West Brom at the Riverside a month ago.

And not a bad season send-off for the 30,230 Riverside fans, many of whom have witnessed a home campaign that has seen just two defeats.

The Riverside record is one that McClaren is rightly proud of.

"It highlights the progress this club has made this season when compared to last season," he said. "We've played some fantastic football and beaten some very good teams here."

On Saturday Tottenham did not fall into that category. After an opening 20 minutes that had 'end of season' stamped all over it the game burst into life.

The only notable early occurrences were a worrying knee injury that forced Ugo Ehiogu off, and two good chances spurned by Spurs striker Teddy Sheringham.

Then Nemeth and Juninho turned the screw. The Brazilian fed the Slovakian in the box and Nemeth beat Anthony Gardner all ends up before seeing his effort on goal turned away by Kasey Keller.

Fortunately Christie was on hand to fire home the rebound. A minute later Juninho's superb through ball had Nemeth bearing down on goal only for Chris Perry to clip his heels.

The incident appeared to be outside the box but referee Uriah Rennie pointed to the spot and then promptly sent the Spurs defender off.

The decision unsurprisingly proved far from popular with Spurs boss Glenn Hoddle.

"The referee got it wrong in a key moment," he said. "It was never a penalty and he's got to use his assistant - but he's gone straight for the red card."

Juninho's penalty was too close to Keller, but the American goalkeeper saw his saved spot-kick spin off his arm and fall invitingly for the Brazilian, who cheekily waited for a split-second before tapping home.

By 28 minutes the Spurs following was already making plans for a night out back in the capital as a short corner found its way to Luke Wilkshire.

His effort from 25 yards took a couple of deflections before landing at Nemeth's feet. With the Spurs defence wrongly expecting an offside flag, Nemeth slotted home. Half-time allowed McClaren to withdraw Christie, who is booked in for a hernia operation in the summer, and sent on Macccarone. The impact was almost instantaneous.

Juninho, given an incredible amount of space in midfield all afternoon, found the Italian free in the box only for Stephen Carr to slide in and make a superb last-ditch tackle.

However, Maccarone didn't have to wait too much longer for his goal. Two minutes later Ledley King was diliatory in defence, Nemeth robbed him and then fed the Italian international. Maccarone wasted no time in curling a right foot effort from the edge of the box past Keller.

Spurs looked dead and buried but their own super-sub, Jamie Redknapp - playing his first game since fracturing a toe in December - curled a superb 25-yard free-kick past Mark Schwarzer to reduce the arrears.

This only appeared to annoy Boro. Wilkshire blazed horribly over from 12 yards, the Aussie and Nemeth both hit the post, before Maccarone found space from Juninho's pass to round off the scoring. McClaren still wants more from his players and has his sights set on a win at Bolton next weekend.

"It's vitally important we carry on the form shown against Tottenham into the final game," he said. "We set a target of 52 points and we do need to approach next week's game wanting to win. "

* Gareth Southgate's agent Steven Firth has rejected reports again linking the England centre-half with a move to neighbours Newcastle United.

Firth said: "It's rubbish. I went to the trouble of speaking to Newcastle United about this and they've totally denied any interest."