The 27-year-old Australian put in an encouraging performance against Wales in midweek, although he missed out on breaking his international goalscoring duck after 25 appearances in the green and gold.

However, the Boro manager told the club's website he was thoroughly impressed by McDonald who was involved in Australia's second goal in the win.

"I watched the match and it was a very, very good performance from Scott McDonald for his country," Mowbray said.

"I thought he was outstanding alongside Tim Cahill. He'll hopefully come back from that game feeling good about himself.

"The technical side of his game is getting much, much better. He didn't give the ball away once in 90 minutes, his movement was very intelligent and he threatened the goal.

"I'm delighted he's taken those attributes on board and that's made him a better all-round footballer, not just someone who wants to score goals. He covers a lot of ground and works extremely hard."

McDonald hasn't scored at club level this season either, missing out again in Middlesbrough's 1-0 win over Leeds United on Saturday, but Mowbray has backed him to finish as the club's topscorer this term.

"As we stand here now I'm pretty sure Scott McDonald will be our top scorer as long as he stays fit," Mowbray said.

"That's the nature of the boy - he's desperate to score goals every game. He's been involved in a lot of the good stuff we've done this season, if not scoring goals then creating them."