Steve McClaren's first season as a manager sees him one step from the FA Cup final - but for Walter Smith, the future looks bleak.

After masterminding the exit from this competition of his former paymasters Manchester United - and now seeing his side convincingly overcome sorry Everton - Cardiff is now on the horizon for Boro boss McClaren.

His was the better team throughout the sixth-round tie at the Riverside Stadium, but they profited from a spell in the middle of the first half when Everton played like a pub team.

Even Smith would do well to describe it any differently after his side collapsed into a shambles and conceded three goals in five minutes. Noel Whelan, Szilard Nemeth and then skipper Paul Ince buried Everton.

Just how Smith's men will react to this as they turn to more pressing matters at the wrong end of the Premiership table, only time will tell.

But you fear for the Goodison Park club. Their finances are in turmoil, their squad is riddled with injury and Smith's period of management is again coming under scrutiny.

This game was supposed to provide the confidence boost the blue half of Merseyside needed.

It turned into an embarrassment with the majority of their 7,000 army of fans heading back down the A1 long before the final whistle.

Paul Gascoigne was reintroduced to the starting line-up against his former club.

But even the ex-England midfielder in his heyday would not have been able to do much about the way his colleagues fell apart dramatically in an horrific five-minute spell.

Middlesbrough, almost as badly off as Everton in the Premiership relegation dogfight, had hardly looked devastating themselves before the cave-in that silenced the visiting fans.

Gianluca Festa and Gareth Southgate bottled up Everton's diminutive strikeforce of Tomasz Radzinski and Joe-Max Moore, and that meant the pressure was rarely off Everton's backline line with the ball constantly coming straight back at them.

Only a Scot Gemmill's blocked shot had broken up the steady flow towards the Everton goal during the early stages of the game.

Visiting keeper Steve Simonsen came under increasing pressure and made one fine save from Robbie Mustoe's header before the roof caved in.

After looking the part, it was cruel luck that Simonsen should be involved in the calamity which presented Whelan with the first goal after 35 minutes.

The goalkeeper and full-back Alessandro Pistone got in an awful mess on the edge of the box. The duo collided and left Whelan with an empty net to fire the ball into.

Everton were still reeling when Boro broke quickly and Alen Boksic found space behind David Unsworth on the right.

Simonsen deflected his shot onto the bar but Nemeth arrived to head home from a yard.

After 40 minutes it was three. Ince, who had been abused throughout by Everton fans for his Liverpool connections, exacted revenge by firing home from six yards after Simonsen had palmed Boksic's shot into his path.

To rub salt into the wounds, the midfielder completed a jubilant cartwheel in front of the visiting fans.

It was no surprise that Everton took off the ineffective Moore and Tobias Linderoth at the break, throwing on Niclas Alexandersson and youngster Nick Chadwick, and reshuffling their defence.

But the damage was done long ago, even if Everton created three chances in the first 15 minutes after the break.

Chadwick made a difference. He set up Alexandersson for one shot which Mark Schwarzer blocked, and then put Radzinski away but the Polish-Canadian's first touch letting him down badly.

A minute later Radzinski was too slow to react when an Alexandersson ball broke to him in front of goal.

But Boro were holding on to what they had by this stage.

Everton had another excellent chance after 53 minutes when Chadwick's pass put Radzinski in again. But, having created the opening, the striker saw his shot turned away by Schwarzer.

From then on the game was played out at half pace with the outcome long since decided.

Where Everton go from here is anyone's guess, but Boro and McClaren look to be heading in the right direction at last.

Teams:

Middlesbrough: Schwarzer, Festa, Southgate, Queudrue, Stockdale, Ince, Greening, Mustoe, Boksic (Debeve 73), Nemeth (Marinelli 84), Whelan (Windass 87).

Subs Not Used: Crossley, Gavin.

Booked: Greening.

Goals: Whelan 35, Nemeth 37, Ince 42.

Everton: Simonsen, Pistone, Stubbs, Weir, Unsworth, Clarke, Gascoigne, Gemmill (Blomqvist 73), Linderoth (Alexandersson 45), Radzinski, Moore (Chadwick 45).

Subs Not Used: Gerrard, Cleland.

Booked: Stubbs.

Att: 26,950

Ref: A Wiley (Burntwood).