MIDDLESBROUGH continued their pre-season tour of the South-West with a resounding 7-0 win over Tavistock last night.

Duncan Watmore and Hayden Coulson scored two goals apiece as Boro took a major step forward from Monday’s performance against Saltash, with Uche Ikpeazu, Lewis Wing and Chuba Akpom also finding the net.

The Teessiders scored five goals in the first half, such was the extent of their dominance before the break, and it might have been even more with Ikpeazu hitting the crossbar in the opening five minutes.

Neil Warnock’s side did not have to wait long for their opener though, with Watmore capitalising on a defensive mistake to slot home a low finish.

Coulson, whose Boro future remains in doubt with Sunderland one of a number of clubs to have expressed an interest, doubled his side’s lead on the half-hour mark after a one-two with Watmore.

That opened the floodgates, with three more goals arriving before half-time. Ikpeazu, a summer signing from Wycombe, claimed the first of them, converting Coulson’s cross from close range.

Watmore claimed his second of the night as he hammered a low shot into the Tavistock, and Coulson made it 5-0 as he completed his brace with a neat finish after he chipped the ball between two defenders.

Ikpeazu hit the woodwork for a second time shortly before the interval, drilling a low shot against the post, and Warnock made a host of half-time changes, with his changes including the introduction of youngsters Jack Robinson, Connor Malley, Isaiah Jones and Jeremy Sivi.

Sol Brynn and Hayden Hackney also came off the bench during the second half, with Boro claiming a sixth goal with quarter-of-an-hour remaining when Hackney delivered a low cross that was converted by Wing, who also scored in Monday’s game with Saltash.

Boro, who did not call on trialist Jamie Paterson, completed the scoring in the closing stages, with Akpom volleying home after his initial strike had rebounded off the post.

Middlesbrough: Lumley (Brynn), Spence, McNair (Peltier), Wood, Fry (Robinson), Coulson (Jones), Morsy (Malley), Wing, Tavernier (Hackney), Watmore (Sivi), Ikpeazu (Akpom).