CARLOS de Pena's first half header was not enough to prevent Middlesbrough's Under-23s from losing 2-1 to Aston Villa at Darlington's The Northern Echo Arena.

Boro had the first decent effort when Marcus Tavernier's long range drive was stopped by Viktor Johansson.

But they got the ball in the net when de Pena powered in a fine header from Joao Morelli's corner with five minutes remaining of the opening half.

Villa hit the bar with a distance drive from Rushian Hepburn-Murphy shortly after but Middlesbrough hit the break a goal up.

Hepburn-Murphy was key for the equaliser five minutes after the restart when he cut in from the left and his pass across the face of goal was turned in by Keinan Davis.

Villa looked dangerous after that and took the lead when Jordan McGhee tripped Khalid Abdo in the area with 24 minutes to go. He then took the spot kick himself and sent Aynsley Pears the wrong way.

Pears made an excellent save from Hepburn-Murphy, who was a nuisance throughout, in the closing stages and Junior Mondal should have levelled after doing the hard work by beating two men.

MIDDLESBROUGH: Pears; Johnson, McGhee, Tavernier, Elsdon; Morris, Morelli (Mondal 71), Tinkler (Pattison 66), Cooke, de Pena; Jakupovic. Subs: mcGoldrick, Wheatley, Fryer.