Middlesbrough vs West Bromwich Albion; Sky Bet Championship
Middlesbrough vs West Bromwich Albion. Sky Bet Championship.
Riverside Stadium.
Middlesbrough 3
- W Lankshear (48th minute, 73rd minute)
- A Jones (87th minute)
West Bromwich Albion 1
- J Morgan (65th minute)
Middlesbrough 3-1 West Brom: Will Lankshear scores twice as Boro win
Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship match between Middlesbrough and West Bromwich Albion at the Riverside Stadium on Saturday; Will Lankshear scores twice and Alfie Jones adds third as Boro seal win.
Saturday 29 August 2026 15:48, UK
Will Lankshear made it six goals in five games following his summer move from Tottenham as Middlesbrough's strong start to the season continued with a 3-1 home win over West Brom.
Lankshear scored twice at the Riverside, with both goals coming after rebounds off Baggies goalkeeper Max O'Leary, with Alfie Jones sealing Boro's win with three minutes remaining.
Jimmy-Jay Morgan had briefly levelled for West Brom in the second half, but Boro were able to celebrate a second Sky Bet Championship home win that completed a good week following their Carabao Cup success at Doncaster.
The game was preceded by a minute's applause in honour of PC Matthew Blades and PC Tom Clough, the two police officers who died in the line of duty when their marked police car was hit by a car travelling in the wrong direction on the A66, less than two miles away from the Riverside Stadium, last Saturday.
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Once the action began, Boro were granted a great chance to open the scoring when Isaac Price rolled a backpass straight to Riley McGree, only for the Australian midfielder to flick a first-time effort wide of the target.
West Brom's best opportunity of the first half saw Felix Myhre sweep a shot wide after an excellent through-ball from Jayson Molumby had unpicked the Boro defence.
The home side were forced into a change before half-time, with Jeremy Sarmiento heading off injured, and boss Kim Hellberg also brought on summer signing Sebastian Berhalter at the break in an attempt to spark his side into life.
Boro were ahead three minutes after the interval, although the home side's opener was controversial.
Lankshear was in an offside position when Morgan Whittaker fired in a shot that struck the post. The ball rebounded off the upright, struck West Brom goalkeeper Max O'Leary in the back of the head, and looped up invitingly for Lankshear to head home.
Boro almost claimed a second goal when O'Leary displayed sharp reflexes to prevent Ousmane Diakite from prodding the ball into his own net, and the keeper then pushed Callum Brittain's header over the crossbar.
They were important saves as West Brom levelled in the 65th minute. Isaac Price floated over an excellent cross from the left of the penalty area, and Morgan eased himself between Luke Ayling and Neto Borges to head home.
Eight minutes later, and Boro were restoring their lead. Substitute Kyle Joseph fired in an angled shot that was saved by O'Leary with his legs, but the ball rebounded for Lankshear to steer home a simple volley.
The home side made their win safe with three minutes remaining when substitute Jones turned the ball home after Ayling miscued a shot across goal.
The managers
Middlesbrough's Kim Hellberg:
I am very happy with the win. How we turned the game around in the second half is absolutely brilliant - intense pressing, creating loads of opportunities.
"That's what I want this football side to look like. The second half, against a very good side, I thought was brilliant.
"The first half, I have to be honest, we were terrible, to be fair. In the first half, there was a lack of intensity to how we were pressing and our pressing structure was not right. We gave them a lot of time with the ball.
"They are a very good side, very similar to us, but while they played well, they only really had one or two chances. They had the ball and frustrated us though, and were very good at it.
"We lacked intensity in how we pressed, and then we were tired when we did get the ball so we did a lot of basic things wrong.
"Sometimes, football is about pressing and winning your duels, and we didn't do that well enough in the first half. Second half, we turned it around and over 90 minutes we won fair and square."
West Brom's James Morrison:
"We talk a lot about managing momentum and starts to halves. The goal [Middlesbrough's opener] is offside, but I'm not going to complain too much, hopefully we'll get a few ourselves this year.
"I thought we were comfortable, but I don't want to be that team that concedes silly goals. I don't want to be that.
"We're a new team and we're trying to build something so there's going to be little knocks along the way. It's probably part of our learning curve, and we'll get stronger as we go along and won't make those mistakes.
"I've seen how far we've come. But it's the timing of goals that is most frustrating at the moment - Newcastle scored against us [in the Carabao Cup] just after we had scored. That's the disappointment."
