PADDY McNAIR feels his return to the Middlesbrough midfield has enabled him to play ‘some of the best football of his career’.

McNair spent most of last season either kicking his heels on the substitutes’ bench or playing on the right-hand side of defence under Tony Pulis.

Jonathan Woodgate regards the 24-year-old as much more of a midfielder, and while he was forced to field McNair as one of three centre-halves when injuries became an issue at the start of the month, he was able to restore him to a more natural role for the 2-2 draw with QPR that preceded the international break.

McNair was back in midfield at the weekend as Northern Ireland played out a goalless draw with Holland, a result that set up a Euro 2020 qualifying play-off that is likely to be against Bosnia, and is revelling in a more attacking outlook on both the domestic and international stage.

“It (scoring) has always been a part of my game growing up,” said McNair. “I fell back into defence for different reasons, but I feel like I’m back in midfield and I feel like I’m playing the best football I ever have done for club and country. So, if I can just keep going and playing well, hopefully the goals will keep coming.”

McNair and his Boro team-mate, George Saville, will be back in international action tomorrow when Northern Ireland end their Euro 2020 group campaign with what is effectively now a dead rubber in Germany.

McNair played the full 90 minutes of the weekend game with Holland, with Saville playing for just under an hour before he was substituted, and Woodgate will be hoping that the pair are used sparingly tomorrow night.

Boro’s return to Championship action comes on Sunday when they host Hull City in a televised home game, but while their players will have a day longer than normal to recover from their international exertions, Woodgate will not want to see McNair in particular over-exerted given that Northern Ireland cannot now claim an automatic qualifying place for next summer’s finals.

The Boro head coach will also be a keen observer of the Republic of Ireland’s final qualifier against Denmark tonight, with goalkeeper Darren Randolph having been passed fit for the decisive Group D game at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium.