The Cameroon striker – making only his fourth league start of the season due to Mark Viduka’s Boxing Day injury – struck a two-minute second half double to sink Norwich at the Riverside.

Job hit two cool finishes in the 53rd and 54th minute to further frustrate Canaries boss Nigel Worthington who saw his injury crisis increase.

Worthington – who lost three players on Boxing Day – watched midfielder Thomas Helveg taken off with concussion after just 10 minutes to further hamper his efforts to beat the drop.

Instead the celebrations belonged to Boro but only after they had been booed off by a record 34,836 crowd after a first 45 minutes memorable only for its sheer quantity of misplaced passes.

Neither side had managed to get any sort of grip on the proceedings but it was the injury-hit visitors who emerged with more credit at the break. But if Canaries boss Worthington thought things could not get any worse after Boxing Day then he was mistaken.

Within the first 10 minutes Marc Edworthy needed lengthy treatment following a collision with Job.

Then Helveg was knocked out cold in a clash of heads with team-mate Gary Doherty and immediately had to be substituted.

Boro had made a promising early impression through Bolo Zenden and Stewart Downing on the opposite flanks but their crosses eluded Job and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink.

After four minutes the Holland international fashioned the first shot on target but his weak, low effort was easily gathered by Norwich keeper Robert Green.

Ray Parlour came close for Boro after running at the visitors defence and hitting a powerful right-footed shot which flashed just wide of Green’s left-hand post.

At the other end David Bentley hit a long-range effort well wide on one of the visitors’ rare forays forward.

Job came close for Boro in the 19th minute after shaking off Bentley and hitting a strong shot which Green parried out for a corner.

But both sides were guilty of squandering simple possession with Hasselbaink’s casual chase after Mark Schwarzer’s throw almost presenting Darren Huckerby with a chance.

Norwich teenager Ryan Jarvis set up Bentley for another long-range attempt in the 24th minute which flew not far over Mark Schwarzer’s bar.

Zenden was the first man in referee Howard Webb’s notebook for deliberately tripping Huckerby as the Norwich man sought to start a move across the half-way line.

Just before the half-hour mark Green almost gifted Boro a barely deserved opener after gathering a low shot from Downing.

A defensive muddle presented the ball to the lurking Zenden who responded by blasting it straight back inches over the bar.

Adam Drury followed Zenden into the book for a foul on Nemeth just inside the Norwich half.

Downing, clearly Boro’s most persistent threat in an awfully scrappy affair, came close in the 37th minute with a low shot which flashed across the face of goal.

Boro pressed forward with more effect at the start of the second period with Downing’s dangerous cross from the left squirting behind off Edworthy.

Job missed the simplest of chances to put Boro ahead in the 50th minute when he headed Downing’s cross over the bar from four yards. But he made up for his miss in style by stealing in at the far post to poke home the opener three minutes later.

And no sooner had Norwich restarted than the Cameroon striker beat the offside trap to race clear onto Franck Queudrue’s long ball down the left and knock the second through Green’s legs.

Boro almost added a third two minutes later when Downing found himself in a near-identical position to Job only for Green to this time deflect his shot over the bar.

Norwich rallied with Bentley seeing a shot blocked by Mark Schwarzer and teenage substitute Danny Crow heading inches wide from Bentley’s cross.