Southgate happy with Boro attitude

Middlesbrough boss Gareth Southgate saluted the attitude of his players after they ended Everton's unbeaten run to claim only their second win of the season.

Aiyegbeni Yakubu's 26th-minute penalty and Mark Viduka's 71st-minute strike claimed the points despite Tim Howard's spot-kick save from the Nigerian and Tim Cahill's late strike.

The win ended a run of three successive defeats - the last of them at promoted Sheffield United a fortnight ago - for Southgate's side and gave them another impressive scalp after their victory over champions Chelsea earlier in the season.

Southgate, the former Boro defender in his first season as boss, said: "It is attitude. Attitude is what we had today, good attitude.

"Teams like Everton who are physically strong and have got pace are historically teams we have struggled against - probably because we used to have a centre-half who did not have any pace, But we have rectified that now!

"I am just delighted for the lads because they have had to take a lot over the last few weeks.

"The aftermath of Sheffield was difficult for everybody to take, but all the staff and all the players have responded really well to what we have tried to do in training.

"We have taken a step forward today. I still maintain there will be pain along the way, but it is nice to enjoy an hour or so of your Saturday evening."

Everton played some enterprising football and threatened to snatch a point in a grandstand finish - the final whistle came in the ninth minute of stoppage time - but had Yakubu and Lee Cattermole taken the chances that came their way, Boro might have won more comfortably.

Southgate said: "The pleasing things is we created that many chances. Lee Cattermole had a couple of good chances, George (Boateng) had one, Jason Euell had one.

"When we missed the penalty, there was a danger that could have been a real turning point.

"It gave them a huge lift, but we scored a fantastic second - we played some really good football leading up to it - and then we had to dig in.

"It would not be us if we did not make life difficult for ourselves.

"But it is one game for us. We are delighted with it because the opposition are top drawer and they have had a fantastic start.

"But we were about it today, we were on our game and as difficult as it was, that is how you have to play in the Premier League to get results.

"They were all out on their feet in the dressing room."

Everton boss David Moyes was disappointed by the result, but was more than happy with the efforts of his players.

He said: "We did not deserve to lose. The players were terrific right from the first moment to the last moment. Their endeavour was excellent.

"The unbeaten tag was not the thing, we actually think we should have got some points, and probably some more in games before this as well.

"We should never have been down in the game. The first-half performance at times was excellent.

"Our passing was terrific, we just did not quite have the final pass or the final through-ball or the cross, and we gave away a poor penalty-kick."

Moyes had no argument with either of Boro's penalties, which were awarded for Howard's foul on Yakubu and Joleon Lescott's handball, but felt his side might have been similarly rewarded for Emanuel Pogatetz's challenge on Andy Johnson and Andrew Davies' clash with James Beattie.

He said: "There is a strong case for two penalty kicks, but we are not quite getting the decisions from the officials at the moment.

"I will keep saying very little. If it does not change, I might need to change."

Meanwhile, match referee Mark Halsey stopped the game in the second half to hand a mobile phone to a police officer after it had apparently been thrown on to the pitch from the stand behind Mark Schwarzer's goal in which the travelling fans were seated.