Unofficial Champions of England: Middlesbrough 6-1 Derby County, 05/03/1997

Vladimir Kinder scorer of the first Middlesbrough goal

Hard to see how this could have gone any worse for Unofficial Champions Derby County.

Middlesbrough may have been in the relegation zone but they still had some quality players in their side.

Boro's first goal had an element of good fortune to it as Vladimir Kinder's long range effort took a deflection that wrong-footed Derby keeper Russell Hoult. The score at half-time was a creditable 1-0.

The second half however saw Middlesbrough romp away with it. Fabrizio Ravanelli used his strength to outmuscle the Derby defence before slotting the ball past Hoult who had been caught out of position.
Craig Hignett and Mikkel Beck added two more goals in quick succession to make it 4-0 to the Boro.
Ravanelli than made it 5-0, following up on his initial shot which was saved and rolling it into the empty goal. Ravanelli completed his hat-trick on 85 minutes (with a hint of offside), taking it around the Derby keeper to score.

Derby did get one back through Paul Simpson but it was the scantest of consolations. They did have an immediate re-match in the FA Cup though in which they done a little better, only losing 2-0 this time.

Six goals for Boro, three for Ravanelli and three English Championships for Middlesbrough.