FOR the second time in a week, a home game at the Riverside stretched the limits of credulity. Just seven days after Middlesbrough produced arguably their worst performance of the season against Aston Villa, the same deficiencies were on display as they entertained champions elect Chelsea.

Defenders neglecting the basic rules of how to defend, midfielders lacking any semblance of unity or resolve, and a manager being criticised by his own fans for playing players out of position and failing to provide the requisite motivation for a Premiership win.

For one side, Saturday's game bore stark similarities to Middlesbrough's four-goal defeat to Villa. The surprise, of course, was that the side in question was Chelsea.

If the home fans were shaking their heads in disbelief last weekend, one can only imagine what they must have been going through on Saturday. In a Premiership that has supposedly lost the ability to surprise, this was a shock to rank alongside anything that has happened since the league's formation in 1992. Crucially, it was also utterly and totally deserved.

Boro, who had been little more than a disorganised rabble for most of the season, outplayed the Premiership champions in every facet of the game. Chelsea, who had only lost two top-flight matches in almost two full seasons under Jose Mourinho, were made to look as poor as they have ever appeared under the mercurial Portuguese.

"A week is a long time in politics, but it's even longer in football," said an understandably jubilant Steve McClaren, who was showered with praise rather than pelted with season tickets as a result of his side's success.

"We've had a bad couple of months and a lot of disruptions but, through all of the criticism, we've always stuck together.

"This is our reward for staying positive. We've gone back to basics and worked hard on the training ground - that's been the catalyst for this success.

"We've been inconsistent and we've said that. But we're capable of doing it so let's finish the season well. We still have to get out of the situation we're in, but we know what we can do because of the teams that we've beaten."

Indeed they do. The name of Chelsea can now be added to a list of Riverside victims that also includes Manchester United and Arsenal. A roll of Riverside victors, though, would include the likes of Sunderland, Blackburn and Wigan. With that in mind, it is fair to say that Saturday's victory poses as many questions as it answers.

Why are McClaren's men able to roll over the big boys when they are utterly incapable of performing against the Premiership's supposed small fry? Why can they seem like world beaters one week and then relegation candidates the next? Are the players perhaps motivating themselves for the games they really want to win?

McClaren will be desperate to avoid a reversion to type when Birmingham visit Teesside on March 4 but, for now, the Boro boss is right to bask in the glory of his side's success.

While it will take more than one victory to win over his doubters - even one as glorious and memorable as this - he deserves credit for outfoxing one of the greatest tactical thinkers in the land.

Chairman Steve Gibson also deserves praise for giving him the opportunity to do it.

It would have been easy for the Boro chief to have produced a knee-jerk reaction to last weekend's chaos but, instead, his resolve reaped an instant reward.

Not that he might have agreed with McClaren's means of achieving it at kick-off though. Earlier this season, Gibson held an "open and frank" discussion with his manager in which he criticised his use of a lone striker at the Riverside.

McClaren duly switched to a two-man strikeforce for much of the campaign but, on Saturday, he went against his chairman's wishes and asked Aiyegbeni Yakubu to take on the Chelsea backline on his own.

He can have hardly wished for a better result. Yakubu, combining immense physical power with his equally effective pace, dominated John Terry and reduced Chelsea's other centre-half, Ricardo Carvalho, to little more than a quivering wreck.

His ability to play the lone striker role to perfection allowed Boro to swamp the midfield and, from first minute to last, their five-man central unit had the better of Chelsea's triumvirate.

"The game plan was executed perfectly by the players and that's why we won the game," said McClaren. "We had players coming back and we had men out there, which makes a hell of a difference.

"We also got the blend and balance right. The players did exactly what we wanted, none more so than Yakubu. His goalscoring record speaks for itself and a display like that is the reason we bought him."

For once, the same could also be said of Fabio Rochemback. The Brazilian has come in for some sustained criticism since making a £3.5m move from Sporting Lisbon in the summer but, after showing glimpses of what he is capable of in the midweek FA Cup win over Coventry, he finally produced a performance of genuine class against the champions.

Blending an aesthetic range of passing with an equally impressive work ethic, Rochemback overshadowed the likes of Frank Lampard and Michael Essien to provide the heartbeat of Boro's success.

While one swallow does not make a summer, this was a display to suggest the South American is finally warming up.

"We've only seen flashes since he came here," conceded McClaren. "But we've said all along that he would gradually get into it.

"We looked at him very carefully so we knew what to expect. He's a great player on the ball, but he also works off it as well.

"He's got all the ability but he knows he has to produce an end product. The fact that he did was the icing on the cake in terms of his display."

Crucially, it did not take long for that end product to materialise. With less than two minutes on the clock, Rochemback played a smart one-two with Yakubu, turned outside the motionless Terry and drilled a smart low strike past a lacklustre Petr Cech.

Buoyed by the early breakthrough, Boro went on to dominate the first half and, while Mark Schwarzer was called upon for a brave double save to thwart Essien and Hernan Crespo, there was little surprise in seeing the home side double their advantage on the stroke of half-time.

Yakubu was tackled by Terry after trapping Schwarzer's long clearance but, when the ball broke to Stewart Downing, the winger rifled in a crisp low strike that eluded both the loitering Gaizka Mendieta and the partially unsighted Cech.

As if that was not humiliating enough for the league leaders, Yakubu grabbed the goal he so richly deserved midway through the second half.

The Nigerian combined brain with brawn as he outmuscled Carvalho, cut inside Terry, and calmly stroked the ball past Cech's right hand.

Result: Middlesbrough 3, Chelsea 0.

Read more about Middlesbrough here.