The 31-year-old Australian's strike at Wigan on Saturday was his 17th of the season and enough to claim the three points which eased the Teessiders seven points clear of the drop zone and left Paul Jewell's men deep in trouble.

With the club's top-flight status now assured and Jonathan Woodgate's future decided, Gareth Southgate's main focus will be to persuade Viduka to remain at the Riverside Stadium beyond the end of his existing contract, which expires at the end of June.

Southgate, who has vowed all along not to pressure the former Leeds frontman into a decision, admitted on Friday the longer things go on, the more options he will have.

But Viduka, who partnered South Korea international Dong-Gook Lee at the JJB Stadium, is giving nothing away.

He told the club's website, mfc.co.uk: "To be honest, there are no developments. There's not really anything else I can do.

"I love coming out and playing football and scoring goals and being a part of this team."

The win at Wigan came as a huge relief to Boro, who have flirted with the lower reaches of the Barclays Premiership table for several weeks.

Viduka said: "Everybody says we should never have been in that position. We have too good players to be in that position."

Southgate's men collected all three points on the road for just the second time in the league this campaign to climb into 13th place, and victory over Fulham on Sunday will see them better last season's total by a single point.

However, they had won just one of their previous eight league games, and defender Emanuel Pogatetz admitted the FA Cup quarter-final clash with Manchester United, which they lost 1-0 in a replay at Old Trafford, was key to that poor run.

He said: "We lost it a little bit when we concentrated too much on the Manchester United games in the FA Cup.

"We had a chance to go through to the semis and that's when we forgot a bit about the league.

"That's when our bad run started and when you are in such a run, it is hard to get out of it.

"But we showed against Manchester United and Liverpool we can perform well. We had a little low against Tottenham, but on Saturday, we were back to our best."

Meanwhile, Southgate has rejected the chance to take his side to Lee's home country in July to take part in the South Korean Peace Cup tournament.

The event starts shortly after Boro's players return for pre-season training, and the manager did not want it to interfere with his preparations for the new campaign.

Southgate endured a hectic pre-season after his appointment last summer and is determined to take a more settled approach this time around.