A hat-trick from Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink gave Middlesbrough an emphatic victory, but the sending-off of Blackburn Rovers midfielder Tugay had a massive bearing on the outcome.
Both managers agree that the 30th minute dismissal of the Turkish international had thrown the game in favour of the visitors.
It was 0-0 when Tugay, already in the book for a handball offence, was given his marching orders by West Yorkshire referee Mike Riley for a rash challenge on Gaizka Mendieta.
Down to ten men, Rovers, who had been the livelier of the two sides, were always going to find it an uphill struggle.
And three Boro goals in the space of 11 crazy minutes at the start of the second half condemned Rovers to their first Premiership home defeat this season.
Hasselbaink got the ball rolling a minute after the restart with a quality finish after he had twisted passed two Blackburn challenges and four minutes later George Boateng made the most of acres of space in the home area to score number two.
Hassalbaink needed only one touch to beat Brad Friedel with a great finish from a Stewart Downing cross in the 57th minute and, with Blackburn well beaten, the ace marksmen secured his treble with another first-class goal in the final seconds.
Blackburn were unfortunate when Youri Djorkaeff first had a shot superbly saved by Mark Schwarzer before the Frenchman also had a "goal" cancelled out in a offside flat.
Blackburn has started promisingly with Paul Dickov, Brett Emerton and Barry Ferguson all going close to giving them the lead.
Tugay's dismissal knocked Blackburn out of their stride and as soon as Middlesbrough decided to increase their ambition and go for goals there was only ever going to be one winner.
The victory kept Boro firmly in the upper echelons of the table ahead of their UEFA Cup trip to Aigaleo in Greece, while Rovers are nervously looking to move away from the relegation places as quickly as possible.
Boro boss Steve McClaren, who was in the English dugout for the win over Wales last weekend, had little sympathy for the former Welsh manager Mark Hughes, now in charge of Blackburn.
McClaren said: "The sending-off obviously had a bearing of the game for it had been a close and very tight contest until that point.
"That said, we broke very quickly and scored some excellent goals, Jimmy's finishing was first class.
"This was a good result for us and to keep another clean sheet was very pleasing.
Hughes said: "We need to get on the training ground and address the issues concerning the way we defend.
"There were some positives and I thought the sending-off had a big bearing on the outcome.
"Tugay was a little unlucky to be booked for an instinctive handball, but I thought on first viewing that the second foul probably deserved the yellow card.
"We have had a lot of players away on international duty and several others just coming back from injury but we need to defend better." Man of the Match: Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink – The Dutchman showed just why Boro gambled on bringing him to the Riverside in the summer, netting a razor-sharp treble.