Middlesbrough 2-1 West Brom: Boro come from behind to beat Albion

Marcus Tavernier's Middlesbrough winner was only his second goal of the season

Middlesbrough came from a goal down at half-time to beat West Bromwich Albion and record a seventh straight home win.

Match-winner Marcus Tavernier played a part in all three goals as Chris Wilder's Boro extended the punchless Baggies' run to six games without a win.

After almost eight hours without a goal, Steve Bruce's Albion took the lead on 28 minutes when Andy Carroll made a menace of himself, got to the by-line, his pull-back was half cleared to Jayson Molumby, whose left-footed shot deflected in off Tavernier.

But Boro were level on the hour when Riley McGree cut the Albion defence open with a superb ball, Tavernier pulled back and Paddy McNair arrived right on cue to steer home right-footed for his first goal in three months.

Tavernier then got on the scoresheet himself when Anfernee Dijksteel and Isaiah Jones combined and Jones crossed for the Boro midfielder to meet at the far post - and sentence travel-sick Albion to a sixth straight away defeat.

Jayson Molumby's first goal for West Bromwich Albion, set up by Andy Carroll, was only the second of his career - and his first in front of a crowd

Baggies still backfiring

For the first hour at the Riverside, Bruce's reshuffled side looked on course to extend Albion's recent run of results on Teesside, where they had won on three of their past five trips.

Up against Wilder, who was still playing for Sheffield United when Bruce began his managerial career at Bramall Lane in 1999, the Baggies boss reverted to a 4-3-3 formation.

He recalled Grady Diangana, who had scored Albion's previous goal in the 3-0 win over Peterborough exactly a month ago, and right-back Dara O'Shea, who made his first start since recovering from the fractured ankle he suffered on international duty for the Republic of Ireland in September.

But Boro's fightback means West Brom have now shipped seven second-half goals in their past five games. And that adds to the problem they have up front where, aside from the physical threat of Carroll, they offered very little.

After inheriting a Baggies side who had not scored in their previous two games, Bruce had suffered three successive blanks since taking over, during which time his team had picked up just a solitary point.

Once Boro had stepped up a gear after a double substitution in the 55th minute, Albion had no answer - and there could have been more home goals as Wilder's men went to complete the club's best home winning streak since September 2018, to lift them back up into sixth, at least for 24 hours.

Who's next?

Albion stay 11th but are now six points outside the play-offs - and could be lower still by the time they head into their next game at home to Swansea City on Monday night, after the rest of the Championship clubs have played.

Boro's next game is this Saturday at relegation battlers Barnsley.

Middlesbrough boss Chris Wilder told BBC Radio Tees

"With the quality they've got, West Brom were favourites to go up at the start of the season and things haven't turned out like they hoped. But they've had a change of manager, they've still got good players - and we've passed a big test here.

"We were getting frustrated in the first half, including me, as a few decisions didn't go our way, but we got to half-time and calmed ourselves down.

"We started off better in the second half, hit the ball a bit longer and turned them round a bit more and then the momentum of our substitutions gave not just the team but the whole stadium a lift and, from the moment we equalised, there was only going to be one winner."

Albion boss Steve Bruce told BBC Radio WM:

"It was night and day from what we witnessed on Saturday and I have to thank the supporters for making the trip after what they saw at Luton.

"I didn't have a lot behind me in terms of going forward, whereas Chris Wilder's substitutions gave them something. But we made mistakes for both their goals, got caught and got punished.

"But there's still a lot to play for if we stay like that and if we can get a few back fit but I'm still confident we can stay there and thereabouts."