WITH just one full appearance for Middlesbrough behind him it is too early to start talking up the longterm prospects of Curtis Main.

But after an effective first full game in a Boro shirt in Wednesday’s FA Cup defeat to Sunderland, the teenager has already made his team-mates and manager take notice.

After a few early decisions when he turned into trouble or dallied on the ball for too long in wrong areas, Main became a focal point for much of Middlesbrough’s play.

And his presence, when he out-jumped the towering frame of Premier League and Champions League winner John O’Shea, led to Lukas Jutkiewicz’s equaliser at the Riverside.

His performance certainly impressed the goalscorer, who recently moved from Coventry City for £1.5m. He had been unaware of the young forward’s sudden rise after his release from Blue Square Bet Premier strugglers Darlington towards the end of last season.

“Curtis didn’t look out of his depth at all. He looked great out there,” said Jutkiewicz. “I don’t know too much about what he went through before (at Darlington), but he has done well while I have been here.

“Curtis is a big powerful boy and he showed when he went up for a header with O’Shea in the build up to my goal just what he can do. He is not fazed by anything and he went out and played like he would for the reserves.

“He has a lot of attributes to hurt centre-halves. He showed that against Sunderland.

What is also good is that he has added an extra option now to the manager’s thoughts up front.”

Tony Mowbray is still exploring the loan market ahead of tomorrow’s trip to Ipswich Town but the emergence of Main has at least given him an extra option in the final third.

There had been too much reliance on Scott McDonald and Marvin Emnes in the early part of the season and the fact the former could miss the rest of the season through injury has increased the need for others to deliver.

Main, 20 in July, made more than 60 appearances for Darlington and has been scoring goals for fun for the development squad and Boro’s reserves this season.

His performance against Sunderland has given Mowbray the belief to think the youngster now has every right to be considered for a starting role along with Jutkiewicz, Emnes and Bartholomew Ogbeche.

Mowbray said: “Curtis is a confident boy. He is fast, he has two good feet and he is strong. It’s trying to find the right environment for him to make progress, hopefully that is here. It’s all about taking your chance.’’ Someone that did take that chance that fell his way against Sunderland was Jutkiewicz. It was his fifth appearance since his move from Coventry and he struck the sweetest of levellers – with his weaker right foot.

“It was a good feeling because you do want to get up and running as soon as possible at a new club,” he said.

“The longer it goes on, then the more tense you will be.

That’s my first goal and hopefully there will be a few more to come. All I want to do is score goals.”

The Riverside has often been an eerie place in recent seasons as attendance levels have dropped. Under Mowbray, those figures have gradually improved and almost 27,000 for the Sunderland game, with added local rivalry, is something Jutkiewicz wants more of.

“It gives you a taste of the big game when you are in an atmosphere like that,” said the 22-year-old. “What we have to focus on is making sure this club gets back to the Premier League, then we will be enjoying that every week.

To get atmospheres like that on a weekly basis had to be the aim.”