Middlesbrough's Martin De Roon is delighted with Riverside goal

Middlesbrough midfielder Martin De Roon says he is "delighted" to finally score his first goal in front of the Riverside faithful after netting in his side's 3-0 win over Swansea on Saturday.

The recently capped Netherlands international added Middlesbrough's third goal of the afternoon after Alvaro Negredo scored his fourth and fifth goal for the club.

"Your first goal at the Riverside is always going to be special so I'm delighted," De Roon told the club's website. 

"I had a big one away at [Manchester City] but it's always nice to get one in front of your home fans. But the main thing is we got three points against a competitor.

"We said in the dressing room at half-time that we needed to keep going and get another goal, so I was happy to be able do that."

De Roon, who joined the Teessiders from Atalanta in the summer for around £12m, says he has teammate Gaston Ramirez to thank after his inch-perfect ball from the right that allowed him to side-foot home from six yards out.

"I thought it was a great attack, a great ball from Ben [Gibson] and I took a little touch to Alvaro," De Roon added. "Then Gaston [Ramirez] gets the ball, and with his left foot he can do anything. 

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"He put the cross in and all I had to do was touch it. It's nice for us to score three goals at home and get the three points as well."

Middlesbrough's win saw them climb to 14th in the Premier League table, opening up clear gap between themselves and the bottom three, but the Sparta Rotterdam graduate believes securing all three points were more important than the team's all around performance.

"Normally we are more aggressive with the ball and without it. After three games in six days it can be hard. It certainly wasn't easy," De Roon added.

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"But these are the games you have to win, against a team around you, who could be on the same number of points as you if they beat you. 

"There're so important and we're so happy we took the three points."

The Teessiders travel to Burnley on Boxing Day before manager Aitor Karanka meets former colleague and friend Jose Mourinho at Old Trafford on 31 December. 

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