Middlesbro - 3 Aston Villa - 0: If Sven-Goran Eriksson were to part company with England today, and there was a feeling within that country's Football Association that the Swede's successor should be English, then the name of Steve McClaren would be heard far beyond Teesside.

Already experienced with England as Eriksson's assistant, McClaren sits alone among the Scots and Continentals who manage the clubs in the top six of the Premiership.

Three-and-a-half seasons have passed since McClaren succeeded Bryan Robson at Middlesbrough and the job McClaren has done provokes admiration, though curiously on Teesside, not huge warmth.

Another curiosity is that, though McClaren's contract ends in 18 months, discussions about an extension could be described as embryonic. Superficially, one would expect the two parties to be pleased with each other.

Last season brought the side the League Cup, an historic first trophy after 128 years of trying and failing - and the Youth Cup. On Saturday Middlesbrough reached another landmark and in the evolution of the club it may be just as telling.

In scoring three goals to take their Premiership tally to 32, Middlesbrough took their points total to the same number. That equals Middlesbrough's best-ever total at new year and they have two games, at Birmingham and home to Norwich, before 2004 is out.

Although the Aston Villa manager David O'Leary was not illogical in saying Villa "battered" Boro here, it was Middlesbrough who won, with McClaren praising his players' "character".

McClaren accepted that his side were "flattered" by the scoreline, and that it was achieved "on the counter-attack". That style, which is sometimes regarded as negative, prompted questions about McClaren's fundamentals.

"I wouldn't say I was a counter-attacking coach, no," McClaren said. "I'd say I was a find-a-way-to-win coach.

"Every game is different and sometimes it's not about how you play, it's just about winning. Somehow today we had to find a way to win this game; somehow we did.

"One - you have to defend well. Two - you have to pass the ball well. Three - you have to have an end-product. It's a simple philosophy but if you get those three right, then you win football matches.

"We've changed our style a little bit, become a bit more attacking. We started this game with two strikers and two wingers, we're playing 4-2-4. Anyone who saw us at the beginning - we had two banks of four, and a clean sheet was the most important thing.

"But we wanted to develop from that. For that you need a spine and we have brought people into the dressing room who are men, who are leaders, who are winners. Talent? Yes. But character. They made sure we got over the finishing line today. Our character shone through."

Gareth Southgate, George Boateng and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, three players brought in by McClaren - admittedly at the sort of expense that O'Leary dreams of at Villa - formed Boro's spine.

For Middlesbrough's first goal, Southgate's goalline clearance led to the breakaway that ended with Boateng finding Hasselbaink and him flashing a diagonal shot beyond Thomas Sorensen.

A combination of woodwork, twice, Juan Pablo Angel's profligacy and the defiance of Southgate and his stand-in partner Colin Cooper meant that no matter how much Nolberto Solano inspired Villa they remained frustrated.

When Stewart Downing supplied a perfectly weighted pass after another Villa attack ended with Middlesbrough surging free, Joseph-Desire Job, a half-time substitute for the flat Mark Viduka, killed off the contest.

Michael Reiziger then exposed some poor Villa defending to make it three and his fellow Dutchman Boateng, once of the Villa of course, then described the blossoming belief at the Riverside that has Middlesbrough fifth and eyeing the Champions League. "As sweet as sugar," Boateng said, smiling.