Match Reports

Albion 4-2 Middlesbrough

An image of John Swift and Jayson Molumby celebrating

Albion earned a 4-2 win over Middlesbrough in a pulsating match at The Hawthorns on Saturday afternoon.

The Baggies grabbed all three points thanks to goals from Cedric Kipre, John Swift, Brandon Thomas-Asante and Jeremy Sarmiento.

Emmanuel Latte Lath and Marcus Forss netted for the visitors, who spending most of the second half down to 10-men following Tommy Smith’s red card.

Carlos Corberàn’s team will look to continue their excellent Hawthorns form next weekend when they host Huddersfield.

The boss named an unchanged team from the XI that started in the 1-1 draw at Leeds eight days earlier.

They were indebted to Alex Palmer for it still being goalless around the 15-minute mark, the goalkeeper blocking Riley McGree’s poke after he had pickpocketed Albion’s defence.

But out of nowhere, really, the Baggies took the lead soon after. Darnell Furlong’s long throw was flicked into the path of Kipre, and he smashed a volley home

Then - almost straight away - that advantage was spectacularly doubled. Swift picked the ball up in the middle of the pitch and mazed through the Boro midfield before finding the top corner with a stunning effort.

In what seemed like seven minutes of madness, Boro were able to instantly pull one back via Latte Lath’s close-range header, halving the deficit ahead of half-time.

Albion weren’t fazed, though, and managed to restore their two-goal cushion within two minutes of the interval. Thomas-Asante was gifted a great chance by a defensive mix-up, and he rounded Seny Dieng to make it 3-1.

A second yellow card for Boro’s Smith then saw them play the majority of the second period a player down.

Corberán took the opportunity to introduce some players off the bench, sending on Conor Townsend, Alex Mowatt, Josh Maja and Sarmiento.

Middlesbrough stayed in the game and made it a nervy final five minutes when former Baggie Forss converted a penalty.

However, Albion got the final goal of the afternoon thanks to Sarmiento – the tricky winger finishing superbly in stoppage time to confirm the victory and end an exciting six-goal thriller.

Albion: Palmer; Ajayi, Kipre, Pieters; Furlong, Yokuslu (Mowatt 65), Molumby, Phillips (Townsend 64); Wallace (Sarmiento 69), Thomas-Asante (Maja 65), Swift (Chalobah 81).

Substitutes: Griffiths, Bartley, Ingram, Fellows.

Attendance: 23,691 (1,965)