STEVE McClaren hailed Szilard Nemeth as Middlesbrough's "Johnny on the Spot" last night and backed the Slovakian to continue his Premiership reign of terror.

Nemeth's three goals in Boro's last two games have established him ahead of Alen Boksic in the Riverside pecking order as Birmingham City visit Teesside today.

He has already formed a devastating partnership with Massimo Maccarone, who aims to prove why Birmingham manager Steve Bruce was so keen to sign the Italian in the summer before McClaren stepped in.

Nemeth had a stuttering start to life in England, his first season as a Middlesbrough player blighted by injury as he struggled to come to terms with his new suroundings. But from the moment he came on as a second-half substitute at Southampton on the opening day of the new campaign and immediately injected a sense of urgency into Boro's anaemic display, Nemeth has looked a different proposition.

He put Sunderland to the sword before opening the scoring in last Saturday's 2-1 defeat at Everton, and McClaren believes the 25-year-old's eye for goal allied to his all-round game marks him out as a Premiership star in the making.

The Middlesbrough manager said: "Szilard missed pre-season last summer with a hernia problem, but he played in a couple of games behind closed doors and we could see straight away that he was a natural goalscorer.

"He has a knack of being in the right place at the right time, which is a great ability for a striker to have, and invariably he takes his chances.

"In a way, he's unique. He's got a funny style of running but it's very effective because he's very quick. He can cause defenders problems with his pace.

"But what has also pleased us is that he links up play very well. He's not just a goalscorer; he's a very good team player, and he can see a pass.

"Until strikers play with each other, you don't really know if they'll play well together. But Szilard already seems to have got a good relationship with Massimo.

"When strikers are on a hot streak, they go into every game thinking they're going to score, and that's how Szilard is feeling at the moment.

"There was a spell last season when Szilard, Alen Boksic and Carlos Marinelli hit it off together and started scoring goals.

"Szilard's problem last season was he couldn't find any consistency because he kept getting injured.

"But he showed his potential and ability, and we always knew that would come through this season. He's got stronger and he's learnt the language, and he's enjoying his football." Maccarone had the opportunity to join Birmingham after they had a £7.5m bid for the striker accepted by Empoli, only for the Italy international to make it clear he did not want to join the Premiership new boys.

He is already one of McClaren's first names on the team sheet following his dynamic start to his Middlesbrough career - but the Boro boss admitted he is still unsure of his best team.

McClaren has rung the changes in both personnel and formation in their six games thus far this season, and the possible absence of captain Gareth Southgate with a back problem today could force him into more tinkering.

But he reckons the best is yet to come from Boro and that they will improve once the team bears all the hallmarks of a McClaren side.

He said: "We're still looking for the winning formula and there's a lot more to come from this team.

"We've gone into the last two games without George Boateng and we've performed very well, and overall we're pleased with the progress we've made.

"We're still a new team and we don't really know what to expect. We're still learning about this team and how they react to certain situations.

"But we're getting towards a stage where it's my team, and we've come a long way from the football we played last season."

Read more about Middlesbrough here.