Middlesbrough 3-1 West Brom: Lankshear Brace Puts Boro Back on Track
SportSignals Match Desk · Football analysis desk ·
Right. Let me tell you what happened at the Riverside on Saturday. Middlesbrough won 3-1 against West Brom. That is the result. And on the balance of what I saw from this match, it is a fair one.
West Brom arrived here with some genuine momentum. Three wins from their last five in the Championship, including a 3-1 victory over Burnley the week before. They were not coming here to make up the numbers. But Middlesbrough competed. They competed hard. And in this league, that is the thing that separates teams who go somewhere from teams who drift.
Will Lankshear: That Is What Desire Looks Like
The thing is, when a forward puts himself about for ninety minutes and takes his chances cleanly, you do not need to overthink it. Will Lankshear was the difference in this game. He scored with a header in the 48th minute, straight after half-time, and then put the result beyond doubt with a right-foot finish in the 73rd. Two goals. Different methods. That is a proper striker's performance.
Middlesbrough created six big chances across the ninety minutes. West Brom created two. That gap tells you everything about who was on top in the areas that matter. Boro missed three big chances as well, which will frustrate the manager, and it should. Accountability runs both ways. But Lankshear held up his end. The lad was taken off in the 86th minute, and fairly enough, he had done his job.
The First Half: West Brom Had the Ball, Middlesbrough Had the Hunger
West Brom had 53 per cent of possession. They completed more passes. They made 17 crosses to Middlesbrough's nine. By those numbers, you might expect them to have edged the first half. And in terms of the ball, they probably did.
But here is what matters. Middlesbrough made 18 tackles to West Brom's 12. Middlesbrough won 45 duels to West Brom's 36. The home side won 12 headers to the visitors' two. Twelve to two in the air. That is not a statistic. That is a mentality. That is a team deciding they are going to compete for every ball that comes into the box. West Brom, with all their possession, could not live with that.
The substitution at 40 minutes tells its own story on the West Brom side. Jeremy Sarmiento came off for Max Arfsten before half-time. That is never a comfortable sign. Something was not working, and the manager knew it. Middlesbrough went in level at the break, but the momentum was with the home side.
Second Half: Boro Take Control
Lankshear's header in the 48th minute changed everything. Middlesbrough had a goal in them, and they went and got it early in the second half. That is what good sides do at home. They do not wait around.
West Brom had two substitutions at the break, bringing on Sebastian Berhalter for Myles Peart-Harris. They were clearly trying to reshape and get back into it. For a while, they pressed. Ousmane Diakite picked up a yellow card for a foul in the 61st minute, which was a sign of how physical things were getting in the middle of the park. Four minutes later, West Brom pulled one back. Jimmy-Jay Morgan headed home from an Isaac Price delivery in the 65th minute. It was 1-1 on the hour, in effect. There was a game on.
Listen, at 1-1 you have a match. Credit to West Brom for responding. But Middlesbrough did not fold. That is the thing about this result that I want to be clear about. Teams with no standards fold when it goes to 1-1 after you have taken the lead. Middlesbrough went and won it.
Lankshear put it away again in the 73rd minute with a right-foot shot. The game was done. Then Alfie Jones, a substitute himself, made it 3-1 in the 87th minute with another right-foot finish, assisted by Luke Ayling. A substitute getting on the scoresheet late on. That is a squad with desire. That is accountability from players who are not in the starting eleven going out there and making a point.
Middlesbrough Had Been Below Their Standards
Let us be straight here. Going into this match, Middlesbrough had won one, drawn two, and lost two from their previous five Championship fixtures. They had conceded seven goals in those five games. A clean sheet was not on the cards again today given West Brom pulled one back, but three goals scored and a victory tells you the attitude was there when it needed to be.
The home side had six shots on target to West Brom's four. They hit the woodwork once as well. If they had taken more of their big chances, this could have been more comfortable. But 3-1 is 3-1. I will take it.
West Brom: The Form Holds Up on Paper, But Not on the Pitch Today
West Brom came into this with five wins from their last ten Championship matches, conceding only six goals across that run. Their defensive record had been solid. But Middlesbrough tore through them in the second half, and the basics let West Brom down at set pieces. Twelve headers lost. That is unacceptable at this level if you want to be a serious team in this division.
Morgan's goal was well taken and showed they have quality going forward. But they left with nothing, and their manager will know that the aerial battle was a problem they did not solve.
The Bottom Line
Middlesbrough were the better side. They competed harder, they created more, and they had a striker who delivered when it counted. Will Lankshear with two goals is your man of the match, end of. Alfie Jones's late contribution shows there is depth in this squad with attitude to match. West Brom will have days when that possession counts for more. Today was not one of them.
If Middlesbrough can carry that intensity into their next fixture, they are a handful for anyone in the Championship. The basics were right. The desire was right. That is all I ask.