Middlesbrough 1 West Brom 1: Negredo's penalty salvages home point for Middlesbrough

Middlesbrough's winless run in the Premier League continued although they claimed a point against West Brom at a wet and windy Riverside.

Boro, who had collected just two points from their previous five top-flight matches, fell behind when their former midfielder James Morrison lashed home from 20 yards early on.

But in an entertaining opening half they drew level when Gareth McAuley needlessly brought down Marten de Roon in the area and Alvaro Negredo slotted home the resulting penalty, which proved to be the end of the scoring.

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Both sides had chances to go ahead in a more sedate second half as Matt Phillips and Salomon Rondon struck opposite posts in quick succession while de Roon’s first-time effort drew a fine save from goalkeeper Ben Foster.

A point may soothe the mood of Boro head coach Aitor Karanka, who on Monday admitted his frustrations at failing to sufficiently add to his squad in the January transfer window, with targets Robert Snodgrass and Jose Rodriguez moving elsewhere.

However, Crystal Palace’s win at Bournemouth means they are now only two points clear of the drop zone.

Karanka, who made seven changes to the line-up from the 1-0 FA Cup win over Accrington at the weekend, saw his side fall behind after six minutes.

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After the home side failed to clear their lines from a ball into the box, West Brom captain Darren Fletcher expertly chested down to Morrison and the former Boro academy product rifled low past Victor Valdes from the edge of the area.

Boro were nearly two down inside the first quarter of an hour as Chris Brunt’s dipping volley went narrowly over, but they were given a lifeline in the 17th minute when McAuley senselessly hacked down de Roon in the area, allowing Negredo to stroke home the spot-kick as he sent Foster the wrong way.

Boro, galvanised by their equaliser, felt they should have had another spot-kick when Cristhian Stuani went down under Allan Nyom’s challenge, but referee Stuart Attwell was unmoved.

On the resumption, Valdes was beaten twice as West Brom hit both posts in the space of seconds, first through Phillips’s diving header then Rondon’s follow up. Boro had three shots in quick succession blocked and Brunt’s strike from distance had to be tipped over by Valdes.

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Middlesbrough: Valdes, Barragan, Bernardo, Gibson, Da Silva, de Roon, Clayton, Forshaw, Traore, Negredo (Gestede 87), Stuani (Bamford 69). Unused substitutes: Konstantopoulos, Ayala, Leadbitter, Fischer, Downing.

West Brom: Foster, Nyom, Dawson, McAuley, Brunt, Fletcher, Yacob, Chadli (McClean 59), Morrison, Phillips, Rondon (Robson-Kanu 64). Unused substitutes: Livermore, Olsson, Myhill, Leko, Field.

Referee: Stuart Attwell (Warwickshire).