BLACKBURN beware. If Steve McClaren has any influence in the Middlesborough dressing room at all then Rovers will face a very different proposition at the Riverside on Boxing Day.

The reaction of the Boro boss following his side's pitiful performance in the Carling Cup quarter-final on Wednesday sent out a clear message to anyone who witnessed it - he won't accept anything that bad again when the teams resume battle for the second time in the space of five days.

"We've got to be a damned sight better than that," said McClaren.

"We just limped out. It was a poor performance, we were second best to everything and there's no excuse for it.

"It's the most disappointed I've been for a long, long time and I feel very angry. We just have to make sure that's a one-off."

McClaren led the Riversiders to the Carling Cup in 2004 and, given that they now expect European football every season, it's little wonder his players' performance mystified him.

They were lacklustre in possession and the forward players, including the criminally under-achieving Brazilian Fabio Rochemback, didn't have enough imagination to break Rovers down.

At the other end, Rovers' energy levels proved too much.

Yet even after Paul Dickov slid in his last minute winner Middlesbrough could have forced extra time had it not been for Massimo Maccarone striking the base of the post in injury time.

But McClaren remained unimpressed.

"We could have got out of jail there, but Blackburn deserved it," he added.

"In fact, it was a surprise that it took them so long to get their goal."