But the way Steve McClaren’s side tore into a lacklustre Red Devils in a magnificent 4-1 win was undoubtedly their finest moment of an inconsistent season, and earns them this week’s title of TheFA.com’s Team of the Weekend.

Boro had already shown their ability to humble the top clubs after a 2-1 win over Arsenal in September. Yet before trouncing United, that victory over the Gunners was their only home league win in a campaign that has already seen Boro crash to defeat against Charlton and Sunderland at the Riverside.

And as the North East side went into the clash with Sir Alex Ferguson’s men on the back of a disappointing defeat at West Ham in their previous Premiership outing, they could have been forgiven for feeling a little nervous.

But England coach McClaren has a terrific record against his former club since giving up his post as Ferguson’s number two in 2001, having won four of the pair’s ten meetings.

And it took just 100 seconds on Saturday for that fine form to translate into another goal as Gaizka Mendieta thundered a 25 yard drive past Edwin van der Sar to net his first goal in over a year and a half.

Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink hit a second, and Yakubu made it 3-0 from the spot before half-time. Mendieta calmly stroked home the fourth before Cristiano Ronaldo headed United’s 1000th Premiership goal but it was not enough to take the shine off a polished Boro display.

McClaren beamed: “I told the players afterwards that they should enjoy themselves because moments like this do not come along too often.

“We deserved it and the players were fantastic. We played some good football and scored some very good goals. We imposed our system on theirs and that was a platform for our win. We have been waiting for this kind of performance and result.”

Boro edged out Wigan and Everton to take this week’s accolade. Newly-promoted Wigan continued their remarkable start to the campaign to go second with a 1-0 win over Fulham.

Everton won by the same scoreline at Birmingham to move off the bottom and end an eight-match winless run in domestic competitions.

In League One, Swansea moved up to second with 5-1 thrashing over Chesterfield who dropped two places to seventh. Lee Trundle hit a hat-tick at the New Stadium.