Middlesbrough vs West Bromwich Albion. Sky Bet Championship.
Riverside StadiumAttendance26,567.
Report and highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash between Middlesbrough and West Brom at the Riverside Stadium as Isaiah Jones' opening goal is cancelled out by a debut strike for Albion's John Swift
Saturday 30 July 2022 22:28, UK
Middlesbrough and West Brom shared the points in their opening Championship game of the 2022/23 season after a 1-1 draw at the Riverside Stadium.
Chris Wilder's Boro - who missed out on a play-off place by five points last term - struck first when Isaiah Jones mopped up a square ball from Chuba Akpom (10), before Duncan Watmore saw an effort chalked off for offside.
The Baggies emerged from their shell after the break and, following a dominant spell, levelled when debutants Jed Wallace and John Swift combined for the latter to fire in the equaliser (51).
As two promotion candidates who fell short of the top six last term, Middlesbrough and West Brom were keen to start on the front foot as they looked to set the record straight and get up and running with three points.
It was the Baggies who threatened first, with Boro stopper Zack Steffen - on loan from Manchester City - forced to back-pedal rapidly to push Wallace's overhit cross onto the crossbar and behind.
But Boro soon made the dream start. Ryan Giles cut in off the left and threaded the ball through to Akpom, whose square ball fell perfectly for Jones to slam home when Watmore could not.
Watmore thought he had a second when he took one neat touch six yards out and finished cutely with a second, only to be denied by the linesman's flag, before he sidefooted a Giles cross wide with the goal gaping.
West Brom worked their way back into the game quickly after the break and deservedly pulled level when Wallace rampaged down the right and pulled the ball back for Swift to finish.
Steffen made a series of important saves from Swift and Wallace as the game became an end-to-end affair, but there were few chances of note after that and the teams left with a point apiece.
Sky Sports' Don Goodman:
"He provided, down that left-hand side, what Isaiah Jones had been providing last season. That's width, that's dynamism and he put more open play crosses in and put more balls into the penalty area than anyone else on the pitch. He was brilliant."
Middlesbrough's Chris Wilder: "I thought we were great. I'm delighted with the players. All they need to be bothered about is myself and the coaching staff's opinion. It was a helter-skelter game. I think Steve said afterwards that he really enjoyed it - I'm not so sure.
"I thought it had everything, but what I will say is that we should be out of sight in the first half, which wouldn't have allowed West Brom to get back into the game. They've got good players and they did get back into the game, so overall, on the opening day, if you can't win, you don't get beaten. We've got a result."
West Brom's Steve Bruce: "We started off OK but didn't really recover after the goal, if I'm being honest. The second half was much, much better and it could have gone either way, couldn't it? I'm going to be greedy and say maybe I would tip it our way, but I thought was a very decent game with both teams trying to win it.
"It's never going to be easy to come in here for the first game of the season, so we've taken something and it's something to work on."
Middlesbrough travel to Loftus Road to take on QPR at 3pm on Saturday August 6, while West Brom host Watford at The Hawthorns at 8pm on Monday August 8.
