Aston Villa boss Graham Taylor was delighted with his side's first away win of the season.

Villa had not secured a league victory on their travels before their emphatic demolition of Middlesbrough, whose unbeaten home record was smashed by Taylor's men.

And the Villa manager singled out Joey Gudjonsson for special praise after the loan signing scored on his debut.

Taylor said: "It's the end of an embarrassing record, and at least it was not a 1-0 win.

"It was our first away win in the Premiership this season as everyone will know, and we are very, very pleased about it.

This was Joey's first in the Premiership so I'm very, very pleased with him Graham Taylor Villa manager

"I couldn't believe it that we were 2-0 up and just threw it away, as defensively we have been excellent all season, but great credit to the players for overcoming that.

"I'm very happy with Joey, he's a 22-year-old boy on loan until the end of the season when we have an option to purchase.

"I'm quite excited with him, he gives us an edge in midfield we have not had all season.

"His age is right, the competitiveness about the boy is right, he will get better and I'm very hopeful we will be able to make it permanent.

"We put him on the free-kicks and were expecting him to shoot - but not from 40 yards.

"He's only played five games for Betis this season, this was his first in the Premiership so I'm very, very pleased with him."

McClaren looks down as Boro slip to 14th

Middlesbrough boss Steve McClaren bemoaned his squad's defensive deficiences with defensive duo Ugo Ehiogu and Gareth Southgate both out injured.

Boro were forced to field 18-year-old Andrew Davies, who made his Premiership debut at centre-back.

McClaren said: "He stuck at it, he kept going and showed the kind of character we needed in that football match.

He battled - he was up against Dion Dublin and Darius Vassell who played very well. It bodes well for his future.

"It's very disappointing for us and we defended badly as a team. We made lots of mistakes and it just shows the strength of our squad.

"We missed players such as Ugo and Gareth and our side was very young and inexperienced."