Southgate praise for Viduka

Middlesbrough boss Gareth Southgate heaped praise on striker Mark Viduka after his side’s 3-1 win over Sheffield United and restated his desire to keep the Australian at the Riverside Stadium.

Viduka remains the subject of constant transfer speculation, with his existing contract due to end in the summer and serious talks yet to start between the club and the player.

Southgate insisted he did not want Viduka to go anywhere after watching him sweep Boro into a first-half lead and do all the work for the second goal, which was bundled home by Aiyegbeni Yakubu.

Southgate said: “Mark is a class act and I think he has got as much ability as any striker I played with. He has made a massive difference to us in this period since he came back into the side.

“There is a misconception about him that people have because of the way he runs and the way he moves but not everybody can tear around the field for 90 minutes and those who do possibly aren’t as effective.

“I appreciate what he gives us on and off the field. I have enjoyed my time working with him as both a player and a manager and I want that to continue beyond the end of this season.”

Southgate admitted he was able to breathe a huge sigh of relief after his side bounced back from their dismal defeat at Blackburn to see off one of their relegation rivals.

He added: “There is definitely no hiding from it. The two home games we have had were must-win games for us and the lads responded brilliantly to that pressure.

“To put in the performance they did today on the back of playing two days ago and being disappointed, I think they might have surprised themselves and they fully deserved their win.

“To suffer that disappointment right on half-time could have seen them go under but they didn’t.

"They hung in there, managed to regroup and their response in the second half was terrific.”

Blades boss Neil Warnock refused to be too downcast with his team’s performance, insisting Boro’s multi-million-pound strike force was the only difference between the teams.

Warnock said: “I thought their £11m (€16.3m) or £12m (€17.8m) strikers were the difference the whole game and I think if we had had them in our side we would have won.

“I don’t think we could cope with the strength and power of them both. I just think on the day the two strikers were too good for us but we will learn from it.”

Warnock insisted he still had plenty of reasons to be encouraged about his side’s battle to beat the drop after a promising Christmas period as a whole.

He added: “We have had four games in eight days, which is a hell of a lot, especially for a team like us that works as hard as we do, and I think other teams are far more used to it.

“I can’t really fault them. There was nobody not trying out there. I still think it will be down to us, not anybody else, whether we are in this division next year.”

Phil Jagielka had equalised for the Blades with a late first-half penalty before Yakubu scored twice after the interval to settle the issue, the second coming from the penalty spot.