West Brom recorded their first win at Middlesbrough for half a century with a 1-0 victory at The Riverside.
Mowbray enjoys dream return to Teesside
West Brom recorded their first victory on Teesside for 52 years with a 1-0 win at The Riverside.
Jonas Olsson's second half strike was enough to earn the Baggies their first away win of the season and condemn Boro to their first home defeat of the campaign.
In an entertaining game Afonso Alves should have opened the scoring in the first half but cracked a fierce shot against the West Brom bar.
At the break Tony Mowbray changed his formation to a more attacking 4-4-2 and it paid dividends as Olsson's scruffy finish proved enough.
Ishmael Miller had three gilt-edged opportunities to finish the game off for the Baggies in the last ten minutes but poor finishing let him down.
In the end the misses did not matter to the Albion fans who went wild at the final whistle to signal a vital victory for Mowbray's team.
Kim blow
The statistics had suggested Albion were up against it as they chased their first away win against a Boro team confident at home, and the afternoon started badly with a serious-looking injury to Do-Heon Kim.
The South Korean midfielder slipped unchallenged close to the halfway line and collapsed to the turf, with play being held up for five minutes as he was strapped to a stretcher and carried off.
But the visitors, despite a tentative-looking formation with five strung loosely across midfield, looked confident and Roman Bednar just failed to connect with a deep cross from the right by Gianni Zuiverloon.
Albion's caution was perhaps understandable given their failure to break their away day duck while Boro were going in search of a record fifth consecutive home win stretching back to the last campaign.
Boro responded in the 14th minute when Stewart Downing found space on the left and crossed towards Mido, only for Olsson to react with a superb saving challenge in the box.
Then Brazilian Alves burst into the box in the 18th minute after playing a clever one-two with Mido and clattered a rising effort against the underside of the bar before it was hacked to safety.
Robert Koren tried a long-range effort that sailed harmlessly into Ross Turnbull's hands before a dull game sprang into life in the 35th minute when Borja Valero dipped a shot just over the bar from long range.
Olsson chance
Two minutes later Olsson rose highest in the Boro box to connect with a Greening corner and head goalwards only for Turnbull to superbly tip his effort against the post.
And moments later at the other end Alves found himself with a similar chance but his header was booted off the line in the first of James Morrison's two goal-line clearances.
Boro pressed at the start of the second half but it was Albion who snatched the lead in the 53rd minute when the impressive Miller dipped the ball back across the box for Olsson to stab home.
Boro piled forward from the re-start, Gary O'Neil's free-kick almost teeing up Alves at the far post, then David Wheater's powerful header from a Downing corner headed off the line by Morrison.
Boro came even closer in the 65th minute when Downing crossed from the left but Scott Carson managed to save at point-blank range from Mido before Alves bundled the rebound wide.
Boro pressure
And they must have begun to feel it was not going to be their day when Carson palmed away an O'Neil effort in the 75th minute before also getting down to save the follow-up from Mido.
O'Neil slammed a long-range effort over the bar and Downing somehow failed to connect when he slid in to meet Adam Johnson's cross behind the Albion defence with seven minutes left.
Wheater directed a close-range header straight at Carson and Miller should have wrapped it up for the visitors in the dying seconds when he burst clear on the counter-attack but dragged his shot inches wide.
| Middlesbrough |
Team Statistics |
West Bromwich Albion |
| 0 |
Goals |
1 |
| 0 |
1st Half Goals |
0 |
| 10 |
Shots on Target |
8 |
| 10 |
Shots off Target |
7 |
| 7 |
Blocked Shots |
2 |
| 11 |
Corners |
8 |
| 14 |
Fouls |
19 |
| 4 |
Offsides |
1 |
| 2 |
Yellow Cards |
4 |
| 0 |
Red Cards |
0 |
| 78.2 |
Passing Success |
76.7 |
| 24 |
Tackles |
19 |
| 75 |
Tackles Success |
73.7 |
| 52.3 |
Possession |
47.7 |
| 62.6 |
Territorial Advantage |
37.4 |
|
