Middlesbrough

0

West Brom

5

Brunt 17,31 Mulumbu 42 Bednar 82 Thomas 89
(HT 0 - 3)
Kickoff: 15:00
Att: 22725
Five-star Albion demolish sorry Boro
Former Middlesbrough trainee Chris Brunt came back to haunt his old club as leaders West Brom handed out a 5-0 thrashing at The Riverside.
 
Brunt: Two goals for Albion
Brunt: Two goals for Albion
 

Middlesbro'

  21 Coyne
yellow card 25 Williams
  0 St Ledger
  31 Wheater
  29 McMahon
  23 Grounds
yellow card 20 Arca **
  18 Johnson A
  7 Yeates
  11 Emnes ***
  10 Aliadiere *

On The Bench

  1 Jones
  24 Hines
  2 Hoyte J
  27 Bennett
  8 Digard ** (57)
  9 Lita *** (67)
  18 Folan * (32)

West Brom

  19 Carson
yellow card 24 Martis
  22 Zuiverloon
yellow card 2 Mattock **
yellow card 3 Olsson
  11 Brunt ***
yellow card 14 Thomas
yellow card 17 Dorrans
  21 Mulumbu
  16 Moore *
  9 Bednar

On The Bench

  1 Kiely
  5 Barnett ** (73)
  20 Teixeira
  7 Koren * (64)
  18 Reid
  15 Wood *** (83)
  31 Cox

The 25-year-old's deflected free-kick put the Baggies in front after 17 minutes before pouncing on a poor clearance from Danny Coyne and scoring his second from 50 yards just after the half-hour mark.

Youssouf Mulumbu's header made it 3-0 before half-time and late strikes from Roman Bednar and Jerome Thomas compounded Middlesbrough's misery as Roberto Di Matteo's side wrapped up a convincing victory.

Middlesbrough made a good start and Rhys Williams fizzed a 30-yard strike just over before Jeremie Aliadiere had a shot blocked by Brunt.

Brunt looked lively for the visitors and found space in the area but his shot was charged down by the alert Sean St. Ledger who was making his home debut.

However there was nothing the Middlesbrough defence could do to stop Brunt putting West Brom in front with 17 minutes gone.

Williams fouled Luke Moore and Brunt scored from the resulting free-kick following a wicked deflection leaving goalkeeper Coyne with no chance.

In respect to his former club Brunt muted his celebrations but the home supporters were cursing the Northern Irishman when he doubled the Baggies' lead just after the half hour mark.

Scott Carson's long punt upfield caught the Boro defence out and with Graham Dorrans chasing down, Coyne cleared the ball straight into the path of Brunt who looped the ball over him superbly from fully 50 yards.

Moments later Jeremie Aliadiere was forced off injured and Caleb Folan came on to make his Middlesbrough debut but he barely had opportunity to make an impact before West Brom made it 3-0 three minutes before half-time.

Dorrans found space on the right of the penalty area and crossed for Mulumbu who planted a header over Coyne.

The Middlesbrough fans could barely believe what they were seeing and things looked like getting worse after the break as Brunt, in search of his hat-trick, fired wide from the edge of the box.

Jerome Thomas was causing the home defence problems and his cross found Brunt who was once again off target.

Boro were barely troubling West Brom and their best moment of the second half came when Adam Johnson's free-kick was met by St .Ledger but Carson comfortably dealt with the header.

With eight minutes remaining the Baggies grabbed their fourth when Dorrans' corner was cleared by Jonathan Grounds straight into the path of Roman Bednar who reacted quickly and finished well from the edge of the box.

Things went from bad to worse for Middlesbrough in the final minute of normal time when Thomas pounced inside the box to fire home.

Today's other The Coca-Cola Football League Championship matches.
Barnsley 0 - 0 Swansea Report
      Att: 11596
Peterborough 3 - 2 Reading Report
Mackail-Smith 48 McLean 54 Boyd 90   Sigurdsson 30 Church 42 Att: 8521
Nottm Forest 0 - 1 Blackpool Report
    Adam 19 Att: 23487
Cardiff 0 - 2 QPR Report
    Simpson 19,40 Att: 20121
Watford 3 - 3 Leicester Report
Graham 58 Helguson 60,77   Fryatt 20(pen),40 N'Guessan 90 Att: 14647
Bristol City 1 - 1 Scunthorpe Report
Saborio 50   McCann 90 Att: 14203
Doncaster 3 - 3 Ipswich Report
Fairhurst 13 Woods M 74 Fortune 84   Colback 66 Priskin 77 Martin 79 Att: 10711
Newcastle 3 - 1 Plymouth Report
Taylor S 6 Nolan 61 Carroll 84   Duguid 50 Att: 42898
Crystal Palace 1 - 0 Derby Report
Ambrose 55     Att: 12760
Preston 3 - 2 Coventry Report
Brown 50,68 Mellor 55   Clingan 19 Morrison 90 Att: 11230



Team News:

baggie : "...Good win today even if we were not that impressive but now we will see if our squad can cope with Cech, Miller and Thomas missing for a few games and I really hope we can with 3 away games to follow Tuesday's match...."   view full comment

Paper Talk: Hughes' Turkish delight

Mark Hughes is on the shortlist to become Turkey's new coach, while Kieron Dyer's West Ham nightmare will cost them close to £30million.

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