It was a nightmare start however for the Midlanders, with Kim lasting less than a minute of play before being stretchered off, as he reached to gather a Robert Koren Pass.  Sherjill MacDonald was the early replacement.  Despite the early upset Albion gathered their composure well, Roman Bednar nearly putting them in front on 8 minutes after he had done well to control Zuiverloon’s lofted pass. 

Bednar was certainly determined to show why Mowbray’s faith in him was justified, and in the 16^th minute he produced a fine save from Turnbull after having fired in a low effort from a Borja Valero assist.  It took Boro nearly 20 minutes to  produce anything of note, but a nice one two between Alves and Mido resulted in the latter shaking the crossbar as his effort proved to be just inches away from opening the scoring.  Valero was on hand to deflect the rebound punted in by ex Wolves man Jeremie Aliadiere. 

Bednar was into the swing of things however, and in the 23^rd minute did well to skip past both Taylor and Wheater, only to be denied by a last ditch Huth challenge before pulling the trigger.  In the 32^nd minute Koren tried his luck with a delightful 25 yard effort, but despite its beauty it did little to trouble Turnbull in goal. 

Turnbull was in fine form in the 38^th minute, firstly tipping Valero’s 25 yard shot over, then from the resulting Greening corner to bend Olsson’s header onto the right hand upright for his defence to parry away to safety. 

Just before the break Southgate’s men missed a fine chance to capitalise on their home advantage, but good defending from Morrison saw him clear Stewart Downing’s corner kick off the line.  The last chance of the half fell to the Baggies, but MacDonald was just wide of the target as his effort curled around the right hand post. 

Half Time:  Middlesbrough 0-0 West Bromwich Albion 

Ishmael Miller started the second half for Albion, replacing first half substitute MacDonald.  For the first time in the game Albion moved to a 4-4-2 formation.  After a slow start to the half the Baggies broke the deadlock in the 53^rd minute, a left wing corner from Greening causing Turnbull trouble as his punch out fell short and into the path of Miller, who wasted no time in punting the ball back into the danger zone where a waiting Olsson converted. 

Boro were going to make sure however that travelling home with three points would be no easy task, and were unlucky to not be level just two minutes later.  Donk completely misjudged his clearance from O’Neil’s centre, but the unmarked Alves fired a weak effort straight to the arms of Carson. 

In the 57^th minute Wheater might well have grabbed the home side a goal, but Morrison was on call again to make the goal line clearance, this time the header rocketing off his knee.  Albion’s biggest let off however arrived in the 65^th minute, when Downing played the ball across the face of goal.  But Carson made a terrific point blank save from 6 yards to prevent Mido from pulling the home side level. 

Carson was becoming quite the hero, and spared Mowbray’s men a third spectacular time in the 75^th minute, this time a low save to his left from O’Neil’s powerful 20 yard effort.  It was a double whammy, as the rebound fell to Mido, only for him to be denied again as the quick reacting goalie clambered to his feet to make the second save. 

Albion were enduring one heck of a storm from Boro, and were relieved to see 80^th minute penalty claims waved away after Hoyte had given way under Cech’s challenge.  Moments later O’Neil saw another effort deflected just over the bar.  The remaining ten minutes saw some end to end stuff and more heroics from Carson.  But ultimately the Baggies had weathered the storm, and held onto their one goal advantage. 

Full Time: Middlesbrough 0-1 West Bromwich Albion 

Olsson (53) 

Attendance: 26,248

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