MIDDLESBROUGH manager Steve McClaren hailed a "perfect European night" after watching his side ruthlessly dispose of Italian giants Lazio at the Riverside Stadium last night.

McClaren believes the performance matched an impressive 2-0 win for Boro, who are now in pole position to reach the last 32 of the UEFA Cup.

"It was a perfect European night for us," said McClaren. "European nights are special and, with bringing Lazio here, there was an expectancy in the town you could feel.

"For the team to put in a performance like that just put the icing on the cake.

"There were some great goals, we kept a clean sheet and got the result.

"To win in Europe you need to defend well and we did that. From the performances we have had you can see that we can score goals as well.

"Lazio are favourites to win this competition so I would think everybody will look at this result and say that Middlesbrough are a good team."

The win takes Boro to six points in Group E. And with games against Villareal and Partizan Belgrade remaining, McClaren believes his side are one draw away from progressing in the competition.

He said: "I think one more point will see us through, but arguably we have two very tough games coming up.

"Villareal will be difficult away from home and we might have to clinch it when we play Belgrade here."

McClaren singled out special praise for two-goal hero Bolo Zenden, who the Boro boss admits is revelling in a central midfield role.

"It was a great strike for Bolo's first goal and he scored with his head for the second, which is unusual," said McClaren. "He's proving to be very effective in the middle."

* Tottenham were last night rocked by the news that midfielder Sean Davis will not play again this year after he was forced to undergo knee surgery.

Early estimates that Davis might be out for a a few weeks proved overly conservative, with Tottenham head coach Jacques Santini resigned to losing his £3million signing for ''two to three months''.

Davis has been struggling with a knee injury since he arrived at Tottenham from Fulham and recently spent two months on the sidelines nursing cartilage damage.

Tottenham's defeat to Fulham on Saturday was only Davis' third match back in the first team but he aggravated the injury again and it proved an unhappy return to Craven Cottage for the 25-year-old. ''We always have bad news,'' said Santini, frustrated by a growing list of injured players.

Read more about Middlesbrough here.