More than four million people tuned into the television coverage despite the counter-attractions of Champions League football. Liverpool and Chelsea were involved in European football and viewing figures were expected to be low for Boro v West Ham. But how wrong they were.
ITV Sport spokesman: "Our viewing audience peaked at 4.2 million people which is a decent percentage of the audience share although it averaged out at 3.2 million which represents a 14 per cent share.
"Compared with the rest of the terrestrial channels it did very well in its own slot."