England star Stewart Downing can fire Middlesbrough into Europe

Andrew Taylor is convinced Stewart Downing can fire up Middlesbrough's push for Europe after recovering his confidence with England.

Downing returned from a sparkling show for England in Germany when he set up both goals in the 2-1 victory - a far cry from when he was jeered by fans after the Andorra match earlier this season.

Left-back Taylor says his mate has bounced back from some unjust flak with England and can lead Boro to a club record high finish this season of seventh or better.

Downing is one of the youngsters Fabio Capello now trusts with the left-wing berth and Taylor said: "I thought it was brilliant for Stewart. I think he has had a lot of stick recently and it has been unjust.

"He gets a lot of stick because he is at a smaller club. If he has an off-day, which a lot of wingers and attackers have, he gets it in the neck.

"Because he plays for a small club like Boro, his performances are highlighted more. It is the fact he is here rather than at Chelsea, Liverpool or Man U.

"He tries to show it is not affecting him, tries to be how he usually is and not let him get him down but if you look at what happened after Andorra, his confidence was completely gone and it has taken him time to build him back up.

"Hopefully now after playing well for both Boro and England, he can kick on and keep it up for the rest of the season.

"The Andorra trip really took confidence out of him. I think it would with anyone. Sub-consciously, he was trying not to let it affect him but it was. We could tell.

"It has just taken games to build it back up. Maybe the game that showed he was getting back to his best was when we won at Villa, then Everton and now Germany.

"Hopefully, it will go on from there. A confident Stewart Downing is, in my opinion, the best left wing in England, bar none.

"Now his confidence is back, he will start doing things which you will start looking at and thinking 'bloody hell, how did he do that'!"

And asked whether his defensive team-mate David Wheater will get over his England omission, he joked: "It has not really affected him. He is just too dopey and too thick to let things like that affect him."

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