Gabriel Agbonlahor celebrated his sixth strike of the season to confirm that Aston Villa really do love to be beside the Teesside as they notched up their 64th victory over Middlesbrough.
Agbonlahor scored Villa's third and final goal in their 3-0 victory over a Boro side managed by former Villa defender Gareth Southgate as his pace and skill in front of goal once more terrorised those in front of him.
The Villa hot-shot says he is not on a mission to achieve any personal goal tally, however, as long as he can keep providing the ammunition as Villa aim for a European finish this season. The Erdington-born 21-year-old said: "I don't tend to set myself targets but everyone else seems to set them for me including the press!
"I prefer not to set them because if I did then I would be under pressure and if I didn't reach it I would be disappointed with myself. I will just see what happens really.
"I just think it is much easier for myself if I don't try and set myself the task of scoring a certain number of goals."
The England Under-21 star says Villa were slow to get out of first gear at The Riverside and believes the strain of the international break may have played a part in that.
He said: "We have been slow to start in the last few games but I think this time, after the 40-minute mark, we really started to play.
"You have to expect that after the international break but then John Carew popped up with the goal to get us started.
"There is something about Villa at The Riverside. We seem to love playing here and we had a lot of confidence coming to the game and hopefully next season we can do the same."
Agbonlahor said the last few days had been tough for some in the Villa dressing-room, especially those internationals whose teams had failed to qualify for next year's European competition in Austria and Switzerland.
"It has been quite a week for some of the players, especially those who were away playing with England," he said. "You have to understand that it is hard for those players coming back but in the end I think everyone was focused and got straight back to it."
The youngster, a product of Villa's hugely successful youth academy, added that Villa's England contingent of Gareth Barry, Ashley Young and goalkeeper Scott Carson had expected a bit of flack from fans after the national side was eliminated from the European Championship finals with that 3-2 defeat at Wembley by Croatia.
He said the defeat had also been a real blow for him personally as he strives to make his own career path in the international game.
The player is already being tipped as a senior England player of the future but there will be no major tournaments for him to aim towards until next September.
He said: "The England players here coped really well with a bit of stick from the home fans and did the right thing - they let their football do the talking on the pitch.
"Gareth (Barry) did well and Scott (Carson) had a great game to get his confidence back up. It is disappointing for me and for the other players and the fans that England are out but we have just got to look to the future now.
"Hopefully for the guys they will be back playing for England in the future."
