The Italian made five changes, but left Teesside with a 1-0 third-round win courtesy of Benjani Mwaruwari's lone strike.

But he did so with central defender Micah Richards having joined Brazilian Robinho on the sidelines with a groin injury ahead of the big showdown at Eastlands.

Asked immediately after the game about suggestions he is close to signing Inter Milan defender Ivan Cordoba, Mancini replied: "No, not for now.

"At the moment, what is important is this game and Manchester United. We are not talking about transfers.

"It's possible, but not now, no. It is important the injured players recover - [Nedum] Onuoha, [Joleon] Lescott, [Wayne] Bridge.

"I hope we can recall [Shaun] Wright-Phillips, Onuoha and Micah, who has a problem with his groin."

Mancini and his players headed away from a wintry Riverside Stadium, where a crowd of just 12,474 watched today's game, to begin their preparations reflecting on a hard-fought victory.

City always looked to have the upper hand in a tight game which saw them dominate possession for long periods even before Gareth Barry, Carlos Tevez and Craig Bellamy climbed from the bench to add their weight to a starting XI which included 20-year-old Slovakian midfielder Vladimir Weiss and 18-year-old Belgian defender Dedryck Boyata.

But as long as they failed to kill off the tie, Coca-Cola Championship Boro were always in it and might have snatched an equaliser in a late rally.

However, they struggled to put keeper Shay Given under any real pressure and ultimately, it was Benjani's 45th-minute strike which put City through.

Tevez and Bellamy both went close as the Teessiders threw men forward in the search for a replay, but their misses did not prove costly.

Mancini said: "It's important. Middlesbrough played very, very well. They were under pressure in the first 20 minutes, but we scored a goal and it went well.

"I am very, very happy - and congratulations to our supporters that they arrived here with the weather not good.

"I am very happy for my players and the supporters."

Mancini once again sported his club scarf, but later admitted he might have needed two as he reflected on a third successive victory since his arrival.

He said: "It was very cold today - I needed two scarves!

"When you start a new job, it is important that you start well. We have started well, but we must work hard in the next week.

"It is important to improve."

Boro manager Gordon Strachan was proud of his side's performance against the odds when, having persuaded loan signing Marcus Bent to stay for another fortnight and handed 19-year-old Jonathan Franks a second start, he lost star man Adam Johnson to a recurrence of his hamstring problem and his replacement Marvin Emnes with a rib injury.

The Scot will step up his efforts to strengthen his squad this week.

He said: "It needs to be done because it is not often you get a situation where at a good club, you have to ask somebody to come back for two weeks to you for a favour.

"That doesn't go on at too many clubs, and that's where we are at the moment.

"We have got a 19-year-old who just made his debut last week.

"We need to do something for these young ones, because we don't want to push them too early."