IT will always be remembered as Simon Coleman’s match.

The Wanderers centre-back had been out of first team football for 51 weeks after breaking his leg and would have had to wait even longer but for an injury crisis that left Colin Todd short of defenders.

But he marked his return to his former club with an outstanding performance and a goal as Wanderers – adrift at the foot of the FA Carling Premiership and destined to be relegated – ended a four-match losing streak with their first away win of the season.

Coleman had actually asked to be sent out on loan a fortnight earlier because Wanderers had so many centre-halves he didn’t think he’d get a chance.

But Todd was having none of it, and just as well when Gerry Taggart and Andy Todd joined Gudni Bergsson on the sidelines and Alan Stubbs failed a morning fitness test.

“When I spoke to Simon a few days ago I said I couldn’t say when the opportunity would come but, when it did, he would have to be ready,” Todd explained.

“All of a sudden he’s got a lifeline and he’s taken it. He’s a remarkable boy.”

Tood, who’d started the season as joint-manager with Roy McFarland and was now in sole charge, was doggedly refusing to accept that Wanderers were doomed and the convincing win at the Riverside made him even more upbeat.

“We’ve been threatening this for a while. We could have had seven,” he said, conveniently ignoring that Wanderers were still eight points from safety.

Nathan Blake, goalless in his 10 appearances following his £1.5m transfer from Sheffield United, netted his first goal for the club to put a Sasa Curcic-inspired Wanderers ahead on 11 minutes, but their character was tested when Jamie Pollock equalised 25 minutes later. Coleman could not have timed his goal better – restoring the lead a minute before half-time and paving the way for an outstanding second-half performance that brought goals from Fabian DeFreitas and David Lee.

Middlesbrough: Walsh; Cox, Morris, Vickers, Pearson (Whyte 46), Barmby, Pollock, Fjortoft, Whelan (Hendrie 70), Hignett, O’Halloran (Alan Moore 70 mins).

Wanderers: Branagan; Green, Phillips, Curcic, Fairclough, Coleman, Lee, Sellars, Thompson, Blake, DeFreitas. Not used: McGinlay, Sneekes, Paatelainen.