West Brom vs Middlesbrough report: West Brom match report

West Brom retained top spot in the Championship with a gritty 1-0 victory over Middlesbrough at the Riverside Stadium on Saturday. Hal Robson-Kanu was the late hero for the Baggies, stepping off the bench to put the visitors in front with just eight minutes remaining.

It was West Brom who started the game on the front foot with Slaven Bilic’s men getting into dangerous areas right from the off. Filip Krovinovic, who had replaced Matt Phillips into the starting XI, should have opened the scoring inside eight minutes when he was picked out by Grady Diangana. But Middlesbrough’s Ryan Shotton was alert to block.

Boro keeper Darren Randolph did not have as much to do as counterpart Sam Johnstone during that opening period. Johnstone superbly denied Paddy McNair from range before Lewis Wing smashed wildly over.

West Brom held firm, though, and came through the home side’s spell of pressure to get back on the front foot. Jake Livermore sliced his effort wide and Diangana wasn’t quite able to guide his header on target following a Matheus Pereira corner.

With half-time around the corner, Johnstone kept out Britt Assombalonga before Kyle Bartley bravely cleared George Saville’s rebound off the line.

After the interval, Pereira tried an acrobatic kick from Diangana’s high pass, but was kept out by Randolph. At the other end, Johnstone was at his very best again to block Saville’s low shot. Bilic made a double substitution on 62 minutes and it very nearly paid off straight away as Kyle Edwards went through on goal, but was tackled at the very last second by Boro defender Marvin Johnson.

When West Brom pushed for a winner, Boro almost took the lead against the run of play. Ashley Fletcher side-footed an effort over the bar from inside six yards out. That miss proved to be costly with Albion then opening the scoring in the 82nd minute.

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After Romaine Sawyers and Diangana combined, Edwards then saw a shot blocked. And the ball then fell kindly for Robson-Kanu who tapped in from just a yard. From that point, the Baggies managed the game well and earned three valuable points.

Delighted with a 1-0 victory over Middlesbrough, here’s how some West Brom fans reacted on Twitter.