Middlesbrough faced an away trip to West Bromwich Albion in the Championship on Tuesday.
Middlesbrough beat Stoke City 2-0 in their previous Championship fixture, ending a run of just one win in five.
The Teessiders knew a win over West Bromwich Albion could potentially see them climb into the play-off places for the first time this season.
Middlesbrough were predicted to beat West Brom ahead of kick-off but the Baggies have been the team to beat so far this term, sitting top of the Championship going into the midweek fixtures.
Michael Carrick was able to guide his squad to a 1-0 win over West Brom at the Riverside Stadium last season but the Midlands outfit smashed Boro 4-2 at The Hawthorns in this fixture last time out.
The two sides have a pretty even head-to-head record over the last several years and this game was also expected to be close given West Brom’s early-season form and the North East outfit playing some of their best football of the season so far against Stoke City last time out.
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West Brom legend offers verdict on Middlesbrough star Ben Doak
Ahead of the game getting underway, Boro fans were no doubt excited to see Ben Doak in action once again.
The 18-year-old joined on a season-long loan from Liverpool on deadline day over the summer.
He took a few weeks to settle in but scored on his first start last time out. After that match, Doak was dubbed dangerous by one journalist.
And on Tuesday evening, the Liverpool loanee has once again come in for high praise, this time from West Brom’s all-time top scorer, Tony ‘Bomber’ Brown.
Speaking live on BBC Radio WM during the game, Brown labelled Doak a ‘serious player’ and ‘one to watch’.
He said: “That Ben Doak, on loan from Liverpool, looks a serious player.
“Look out for that little lollipop trick he does, one foot over the other and then he crosses.
“He is one to look out for, one to watch, recently called up to the Scotland squad too.”
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Ben Doak form is bad news for Middlesbrough summer signing
Doak has so far started just two games for Middlesbrough but he has already shown enough to make himself undroppable.
This is great news for Boro as a whole and will likely please Liverpool boss Arne Slot.
However, it is not great for one of the club’s summer signings, Micah Hamilton, who joined from Manchester City for £3.5m in August.
Hamilton has been at the club several weeks longer than Doak but is still yet to start a Championship game for the Teessiders.
And with Marcus Forss back from injury and on the bench versus West Brom, Hamilton is now seemingly behind all of Doak, Forss, and even the struggling Isaiah Jones in the right-wing pecking order.