This is The North East | Sport | Football

A REFLECTIVE Steve McClaren last night urged his shell-shocked Middlesbrough players to use the bitter taste of FA Cup semi-final defeat as a motivating factor ahead of Thursday's make-or-break UEFA Cup showdown with Steaua Bucharest.

Having lost one semi-final to Marlon Harewood's 78th-minute drive, Boro will complete an unwanted double unless they can overhaul the one-goal deficit that accompanied them from Romania last Thursday.

Boro's players will be given today to rest their weary limbs before they reconvene tomorrow to begin preparations ahead of this week's European decider.

That game now assumes epic proportions, with a victory needed to ensure one of the most successful seasons in the club's history ends in a maiden European final and a chance to secure more UEFA Cup football next season.

McClaren accepts it will be difficult to lift his squad's spirits after yesterday's one-goal defeat came in a game they had dominated for large periods.

But, while the likely future England boss also admitted there was little he could say to lift the mood of a devastated dressing room, he insisted the repercussions could yet work in Middlesbrough's favour.

"I want them to feel what it is like to lose a semi-final and then remember that," said McClaren, who maintained Gareth Southgate's interview with a Sunday newspaper, in which he had questioned his manager's credentials for the England job, had done nothing to unsettle his side's preparations.

"By doing that, I hope it will make them want to make sure they don't feel it again. I want them to keep it bottled up and use it as an extra motivation as we try to finish the job (against Steaua) on Thursday.

"There's nothing I can do or say to the players that will make them feel any better at the present moment. I don't want to do that."

Alan Pardew claimed West Ham's name was on the cup after they weathered Middlesbrough's first half storm before bouncing back after the interval, and McClaren was not about to disagree.

The Boro boss praised his players for their efforts but, with Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink and Aiyegbeni Yakubu offering little in attack, the Teessiders lacked the cutting edge needed to break down an increasingly effective Hammers defence.

When Harewood finally broke the deadlock 12 minutes from time, it looked inevitable that the game was up.

"Sometimes in cup ties, your name is on the cup," said McClaren. "Sometimes, when that happens, you get a break and you think, 'Where did that come from?' We didn't get that break.

"The first goal is always the most important in a cup semi-final. At half-time, I thought we might live to rue the chances we had. That's the way it happened.

"I thought we had weathered the storm, but the one defining moment in the game went against us. They took their opportunity - we had plenty of our own, but didn't."

Perhaps Middlesbrough's name is on the UEFA Cup instead of its FA Cup equivalent. Massimo Maccarone's last-minute winner against Basle certainly suggested that the European Gods are smiling on the Teessiders, something that might need to be repeated if Steaua are to be dispatched in two days time.

"Is our name on the UEFA Cup? Maybe," said McClaren. "Ask me again on Thursday and I'll tell you the answer then."

If Boro are to keep their season alive on Thursday, they will have to overhaul their first-leg deficit without the help of goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer.

The Australia international fractured his cheekbone in an aerial challenge with Dean Ashton and is almost certain to miss out against Steaua. With just 46 days to the start of the World Cup, he could also be out of this summer's tournament in Germany as well.

"I haven't seen the incident," said McClaren, amid claims that Ashton had intentionally elbowed the stricken shot-stopper.

"Mark claimed the ball, got challenged and came out of it with a suspected fractured cheekbone. We'll assess it but it could be the end of his season. We'll confirm that (on Monday)."

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