Taylor, who skippered the England side to victory, is taking nothing for granted despite the win, which saw them come from a goal down.

In fact, the centre back who was watched by United boss Joe Kinnear at Ninian Park, feels England's young guns need to step it up for the second leg of their crucial European Championship qualifier.

He said: "This is just half-time and there is so much to play for.

"It would be a great honour to captain the team in next summer's Euro finals. But we have work to do yet.

"We got off to a bad start and we weren't happy to concede those goals."

Taylor is now hoping that England's future side can make it to the next stage of the competition.

And you wouldn't bet against them after goals from Middlesbrough duo David Wheater and Adam Johnson and Aston Villa's Gabriel Abgonlahor's gave them the advantage ahead of next week's second leg at Villa Park.

He added: "Now we are looking ahead to finish the tie on Tuesday at Villa Park.

"The tie is still alive and there is all to play for.

"We gave them far too much space last night, but the second half we were much better.

"We have to play much better on Tuesday and don't give them as much time on the ball."

Newcastle chief Kinnear believes Taylor can be a key man for him as he tries to revitalise the struggling side.

And while Taylor is firmly focused on doing his job for England Under-21s, he admits he is looking forward to United's next test against Manchester City a week on Monday.

He added: "We are all building up to that and hopefully we will have a lot of our injured players back."