Maccarone's precise prompting provides Nemeth with double

Middlesbrough 3 Sunderland

Whether at Ayresome Park or the Riverside, the banks of the Tees have been a graveyard of Wearside ambition. Since Brian Clough scored their winner in March 1962, as Sunderland were pipped for promotion to the old First Division by Bill Shankly's Liverpool and the considerably-less-celebrated Leyton Orient side of Johnny Carey, they have tasted victory just once more on Teesside.

However, in those 40 barren years Sunderland could seldom have been outplayed to quite the extent they were last night, destroyed by the pace and drive of Massimo Maccarone, who had a hand in all three goals. Perhaps Clough, who was watching from the stands, would have recognised something of himself in the Italian. Certainly, he possesses his arrogance.

They overwhelmed a laboured Sunderland side with a beautiful stylish display, qualities which are traditionally absent from derby games, although Steve McClaren, perhaps typically, thought there was room for improvement.

It was hard to see how Maccarone could have performed better. The fact he is playing for Middlesbrough rather than Juventus or Internazionale says everything about the lack of money in Serie A and the continuing ambition of Boro's chairman, Steve Gibson.

From the very start – Matthew Piper was booked within three minutes for a ugly challenge as the Italian sprinted past – Sunderland looked ill at ease containing not just Maccarone's pace but the speed throughout the whole Boro forward line. Even during the thin times, Peter Reid's back-four has been a source of strength but last night they were made to appear ponderous and flat-footed. "The disappointing thing was that they bossed us about," the Sunderland manager said. "We had two international centre-halves and we didn't deal with that pace. They had three up front and we didn't deal with that either."

Sven Goran Eriksson was not at the Riverside last night but McClaren will tell him all about Szilard Nemeth, who is likely to lead Slovakia's attack when England's European Championship campaign opens next month.

The first of his two goals was not a difficult task, merely half-volleying into an empty net but Teesside would not have cared. The hard work was carried out by Maccarone's speed withwhich he swallowed up his marker and enabled him to shoot from 20 yards. Thomas Sorensen should have held the drive but spilled it straight into the path of Nemeth's boots. The ghosts of Niigata, where his errors allowed England to romp home against Denmark, would have come out to stalk him as he stepped aboard the Sunderland team bus deep into the night.

There was absolutely nothing Sorensen could have done to prevent Boro's second, although the same could not be said of his defence which failed completely to cut out a fierce free-kick, driven across the Sunderland area by Franck Queudrue. Maccarone met it with a crashing downwards header.

It would be unfair if the Sunderland keeper were, like David James, remembered only for his errors. If not quite in Peter Schmeichel's class – although there is a banner written in Danish and on display at the Stadium of Light which proclaims him the better keeper – Sorensen proved his worth with a fine tip-over from Joseph-Desire Job, who shot first time on the edge of the area. In the 67th minute, in an even better effort, he pushed Nemeth's drive on to the post.

By then, however, Sunderland were three down and beaten. Without Kevin Phillips, missing for the next six weeks because of a hernia operation, Reid had employed his £10m strike partnership of Tore Andre Flo and Marcus Stewart for the first time. They proved ineffectual, pushing forward in an unfocused, uncoordinated way, threatening only from set-pieces and, as they blundered forward, Middlesbrough struck.

With Reid counting nine of his men in or around the Boro area, Maccarone controlled a long ball, once more slipped his marker as if he were nothing, and slung a sweet pass through to the unmarked Nemeth who had only to run through and pick his spot past Sorensen. On the morning of this match an interview with Reid had appeared in which the Sunderland manager indicated the worst of his troubles were behind him. On this evidence, not yet.

Middlesbrough (5-3-2): Schwarzer 7; Stockdale 6, Ehiogu 6, Southgate 6, Cooper 6, Queudrue 7; Geremi 7, Nemeth 8 (Whelan, 87), Greening 7; Job 6 (Wilson, 86), Maccarone 9. Substitutes not used: Boksic, Marinelli, Crossley (gk).

Sunderland (4-4-2) Sorensen 6; Wright 5, Bjorklund 4, Babb 5, Gray 4; Piper 5, Reyna 5, McAteer 6, Butler 4 (Bellion, 75 4); Stewart 6, Flo 4. Substitutes not used: Williams, Kyle, Thirlwell, Macho (gk).

Referee: A Wiley 7 (Staffordshire).