Middlesbrough manager Gareth Southgate praised his young players for making sure there was no early FA Cup exit at Bristol City.With a number of key performers absent, including Jonathan Woodgate, George Boateng and Gary O'Neil, Southgate put his faith in youth products at Ashton Gate.

And one - Woodgate's replacement David Wheater - rewarded him by netting the winner in a 2-1 success after England international Stewart Downing had cancelled out Liam Fontaine's early opener.

Southgate said: "We played in a controlled manner and I was pleased with the way we responded to going behind. It would have been easy to panic but we kept passing the ball.

"The second goal was really pleasing. It was great to see a centre-half charging forward into the box and I thought young Ben Hutchinson did a very good job for us up front in his first start.

"Lots of people were expecting Bristol to beat us and if you get it into your own mind that there is a chance of an upset then you can build it up into a bigger problem than it is.

"I wanted us to attack the game and be positive. We fielded as strong a team as we could as we had a lot of players missing and we were down to quite young professionals so great credit to them."

City boss Gary Johnson, whose side had shared two 2-2 draws with Boro in the same competition last season before being dispatched on penalties, admitted Boro had been the better side this time.

But he also made it clear he had been disappointed by the home fans, who failed to create much of an atmosphere with many also leaving early.

He said: "We have done well in the Championship and because of that we were almost made favourites. That made the supporters and the players even more disappointed than they normally would be to be beaten by a Premier League side.

"The whole club has got to learn from the experience because at 2-1 down both on and off the pitch we didn't get our game going.

"I say off the pitch because too many people were going home early when we had been doing well coming back in games."

Southgate shrugged off reports linking Boro with Heerenveen's Brazilian striker Afonso Alves.

He said: "We are going to be linked with any number of players, some of whom are going to be realistic, some of whom we are not going to be able to afford and some I have never heard of.

"I have heard of him and I have to be very careful as a young manager as I don't want to be shown up for a lack of world football knowledge. But some of the names that get thrown up seem almost anagrams."

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