Middlesbrough 3 Birmingham City 1: Substitutes help Boro to victory as Mowbray lauds overall display

The Boro boss sent on new signing Faris Haroun at the break and saw the Belgium international score on his debut to put the home side ahead. Barry Robson had blasted them level with a free-kick after Adam Rooney put the Blues ahead from the penalty spot.

Another summer signing, former French Under-21 international Malaury Martin, snapped up on a free transfer from Blackburn, was also introduced to score his first goal for the club as Boro extended their unbeaten start to the season.

“It is nice to able to bring quality off the bench instead of relying on youngsters,” said Mowbray.

“For a lot of games while I’ve been here it has been a case of putting teenagers on the bench but we are getting to the position now when I can replace quality with quality and that helps.”

Martin sealed the victory that took Boro back up to third place in the Championship with a sizzling 28-yard strike. “He has been doing that in training,” said Mowbray. “He cuts in and unleashes and a lot of them are unstoppable like the one we saw.

“It was nice for that pair to get off the mark with goals but it was especially pleasing as a team that we worked hard. We didn’t rush it and we battled back.”

A hamstring strain suffered by striker Scott McDonald could sideline him for weeks. With no other proven goal-getters apart from Marvin Emnes on the books, Mowbray suggested he will look for new recruits.

“Scott has picked up an injury and that is bad news for us because he is an important player,” he said. “We will have to assess it but it looks like he could miss a few games now which leaves us with a little bit of a problem. But we’re working on it.”

Middlesbrough: Ikeme, McMahon, McManus, Bates, Bennett, Robson, Rhys Williams, Bailey, Arca (Martin 67), Emnes, McDonald (Haroun 46). Unused substitutes: Coyne, Hines, Smallwood.

Birmingham City: Myhill, Carr, Caldwell, Davies, Murphy, Burke, Spector (Wood 72), Fahey, Redmond, Beausejour, Rooney. Unused substitutes: Doyle, Dann, Asante, Hubbins.

Referee: Mark Brown (East Yorkshire).

Man of the match: Faris Haroun.