Middlesbrough 2 Wigan 3: Neil Mellor ended a year of injury heartbreak to grab a dramatic winner for Wigan in a five-goal thriller at the Riverside.

Mellor, on loan from Liverpool for the rest of the season, pounced in the third minute of injury time just as Middlesbrough appeared to have salvaged a point with a stunning second-half comeback.

Jason Roberts and David Thompson, who arrived on Thursday with Mellor after signing a short-term contract for the remainder of the campaign following his release from Blackburn, put Wigan in charge in the first half.

However, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Aiyegbeni Yakubu hauled the home side level, only for Mellor to strike on his first Premiership appearance for 368 days after recovering from surgery on both knees to cure tendinitis. It is now nine Premiership games without a win for Boro, stretching back to November 20th, and they are in danger of relegation.

Inside two minutes Steve McClaren's side found themselves behind as Wigan's new duo combined to set up Roberts, with Thompson's long through-ball flicked on by Mellor into the path of the striker skippering the club for the first time.

Roberts made no mistake in driving home his 12th goal of the season, with too much power on the shot for Brad Jones as the ball spun off the goalkeeper and into the back of the net. How different the game might have been, though, if Boro had hauled themselves level just four minutes later.

Referee Andre Marriner had waved away appeals for a slight push on Mark Viduka from former Boro midfielder Graham Kavanagh before the returning Stewart Downing made his first significant contribution after five months out following surgery for a knee ligament injury.

Taking a short corner from Yakubu, left-winger Downing swung the ball into the heart of the box. Emanuel Pogatetz rose unmarked, taking advantage of the Latics' new centre-back pairing of Stephane Henchoz and Paul Scharner, returning to the side after suspension and ineligibility ruled them out of the FA Cup third-round replay win at Leeds on Tuesday, and with Arjan de Zeeuw out with an ankle injury.

Yet the Austria international was denied from just seven yards out by a stunning save from Mike Pollitt. The intensity of the game was startling, with Boro in the driving seat as they and Roberts should have added a second with just over 15 minutes gone, only for two chances to go begging.

From the first, Roberts superbly pulled down a left-wing cross from Thompson, but from 18 yards his shot was straight at Jones. Less than a minute later the duo combined again, this time Roberts taking a through-ball from Thompson in his stride, but an advancing Jones blocked the ensuing shot.

After McClaren lost Chris Riggott to injury, allowing Ugo Ehiogu to make his first appearance since December 18. Wigan then doubled their advantage. From a short throw, Mellor sent Gary Teale away down the right, the winger delivering an incisive cross for Thompson to steal in front of Matthew Bates and head home.

Again Boro had a quick opportunity to reply, and again with Downing the supplier with a lofted through-ball for Yakubu, but with only an advancing Pollitt to beat, the Nigerian striker's attempted chip dropped wide.

To add to McClaren's problems, Bates also went off just after the half-hour with a back injury sustained in an earlier challenge with Thompson. When the half-time whistle sounded the boos were loud and long, and in a desperate attempt to save the game McClaren gambled.

With two substitutes already used, he made his last change at the interval, bringing on Hasselbaink for the ineffective Viduka. The move paid handsome dividends in the 56th minute, courtesy of a woeful fisted clearance to a Downing corner from Pollitt. That allowed the 21-year-old to whip in another inswinging delivery, with a fast-arriving Hasselbaink heading home unchallenged from three yards for his sixth goal of the season.

Boro were now rampant and 10 minutes later they drew level courtesy of another Downing corner, this time flicked on at the near post by captain Gareth Southgate, back after a two-match absence with an ankle injury.

A totally unaware Yakubu, standing in the heart of the six-yard box, then joyously saw the ball deflect off his legs and over the line for his 15th goal of the season. But Boro's exertions saw them fade, with Wigan finishing the stronger and as winners, with Mellor firing home from close range after Roberts had backheeled a Jimmy Bullard cross into his path.