GORDON STRACHAN signed him as a goalscoring midfielder - and 36 games later, Nicky Bailey has finally carried out what he came to Middlesbrough to do.

The former Boro manager signed Bailey from Charlton Athletic for £1.4m last summer after the midfielder scored 13 goals in consecutive seasons at The Valley.

However, Bailey made just 12 appearances under Strachan before he resigned in October, most of them in a defensive position.

Rather than revert the 27-year-old to his attacking role, Tony Mowbray recognised Bailey's defensive qualities and the Hammersmith-born midfielder has been a major part of Boro's 12-match unbeaten run, scoring his first goal for the club in their 2-0 defeat of Burnley on Saturday.

For Bailey, it has been a long time in the making - his previous goal came at Oldham for Charlton in May 2010 - and he hopes there are more goals to come this term.

He said: "At last - it's about 50 games too late for my liking. But it was nice to finally score a goal for the club and we got the three points which is the most important thing.

"The shot seemed to take 20 seconds to go in once it left my foot, but it went in and I'm obviously very happy."

Bailey has been chiefly employed in front of Boro's central defensive three, breaking up play and making the simple passes. But, in a career that has seen 53 goals in 278 appearances, there is some frustration that he has not been able to showcase his goalscoring attributes.

He added: "I haven't been getting any stick off the players, I've been giving the gaffer a bit of stick, telling him that I'm a goalscoring midfielder, not a defensive midfielder.

"But he's put me in a position, asked me to do a job and I'm just happy to be playing. Obviously I'm off the mark and I want to add more.

"I've done plenty of interviews here saying that I can't wait to score, should have scored here and there and wherever, but it's nice to finally say I have done. Before last year I've never not scored in a season and it was really frustrating for me.

"Even though I'm playing a more defensive role this season when I get the chance to shot I will shoot and it's nice to see it into the back of the net for once."

More than 2,000 Middlesbrough fans made the trip across the A59 to Burnley to see their team rack up their fifth away win in a row, and Bailey is satisfied that the players are delivering a marked improvement under the tutelage of Mowbray.

He said: "Last season wasn't great from anyone's point of view, but this year we're doing well and the fans have turned up in numbers, long may that continue.

"It's a massive result, a good clean sheet for the team. We can't get carried away, keep putting in the performances and see where it takes us.

"There's confidence, everyone is working hard for each other, we're defending well, so more chances are created, we're not conceding as many goals - the more often we do that we will win more football games."

* Middlesbrough will discover the identity of their Carling Cup third-round opponents this evening when Crystal Palace take on Wigan in a rearranged second-round tie.

Boro travel to the winners of the match in next week's third round.