CHRIS WILDER praised the evergreen Neil Taylor after the 32-year-old impressed on his Middlesbrough debut during his side’s 1-0 win over Bournemouth.

Taylor joined Boro as a free agent last month after he had been unable to secure a contract with anyone in the summer following his release from Aston Villa.

He has built up his fitness with a couple of outings for the Teessiders’ Under-23s, and finally stepped into the first team to replace the unavailable Marc Bola.

He hit the ground running playing at left wing-back, with Wilder delighted the Boro hierarchy backed his decision to offer the former Wales international a short-term deal.

“We talked about the balance and the depth of the squad, and Neil knows what it’s all about with the professional that he is, and the way he’s had to look after himself,” said Wilder, whose side have now picked up ten points from their last four matches.

“He’s played a couple of games with the Under-23s – 45 and then 60 minutes – and it’s his work on the training ground, and away from things as well, that has given him the opportunity to produce a performance like that.

“He was up against mobile players in wide positions, but didn’t get exposed. He was good with the ball, and gave us a nice calmness about our play.

“I’m delighted for Neil because it’s been quite a difficult season for him, with not getting a club. But I knew of his availability and the club allowed us to bring him in, which I’m thankful for. He’s come in and played well, and gives us balance and competition in that position.”

At the other end of the experience scale, Wilder also praised 22-year-old right wing-back Isaiah Jones, whose purposeful running won the penalty which enabled Andraz Sporar to score the only goal of the game.

“He’s got loads to learn, and there’s a couple of things we need to tighten up with him,” said Wilder. “But it was a good performance.

“He had a little period for five minutes or so where he did his best to win the Man of the Match award, but then he did his best to chuck it away too. He’s a young boy learning, and these things are going to happen.

“His performance was good, and it had to be. The boys had to produce seven, eight or nine out of ten performances because of the calibre of the team we were playing.”

Wilder was impressed with his side’s all-round performance as they took on a Bournemouth side currently sitting in second position in the table, with Boro’s high-pressing approach paying dividends.

“It was good,” he said. “We had to be good. It had to be a strong performance against a really talented side. You look at their starting XI, with a few players coming back, and the strength of their bench, and you can see it was always going to be a big test.

“But we produced a really positive front-foot performance. Out of possession, we were really good, and the press was good too, they committed to it. We stepped into them, and the lines between the three units were good. Apart from maybe a five or ten-minute period in the first half, when we were a bit loose in possession, we were good going the other way as well.”