Five West Brom talking points from Middlesbrough defeat

1 TONY PULIS IS FUELLED BY INDIGNATION:

The former Baggies boss has an eerie capability of triumphing over his old clubs.

Stoke City used to be Albion’s bogey team, but they won four and drew two of their six meetings with the Potters when Pulis was boss.

He’s now done the double over Albion this season.

Whether he uses inside knowledge on players, or whether it’s just a grim determination to prove those who cast him aside wrong, his record against his old clubs is staggeringly good. And those chants probably just spurred him on.

2 A CHANGING OF THE GUARD COMING UP?

Mistakes from veteran midfielders Gareth Barry and Chris Brunt gifted Middlesbrough goals, while there were impressive displays in the engine room from Rekeem Harper and Sam Field.

Barry has been a crucial cog this season and will continue to be important, while Jake Livermore and Stefan Johansen will no doubt play their part in the run-in as well.

But reassuringly mature performances from Harper and Field over the past few weeks prove they too, can step up. Competition is fierce in that area of the pitch.

3 JAY RODRIGUEZ IN RICH VEIN OF FORM:

Jay Rodriguez has been involved in seven of Albion’s last nine league goals, scoring five of them.

Despite being crowded out for much of the game, he scored one and set up another.

It was his 15th goal of the season, which means he’s now equalled his highest league tally of his career.

Rodriguez also found form around this point last year, before he was inexplicably dropped by Alan Pardew.

With 30 goals together, his partnership with Dwight Gayle is the joint-best in the division alongside Sheffield United's front two.

4 LONG-TERM VISION ONE TO GET BEHIND:

Tony Pulis’s in-game management trumped Darren Moore’s, who failed to react quickly enough to Britt Assombalonga’s substitution.

But then again, he can’t predict such a mis-kick from Chris Brunt.

Yes, there is an immediate pressure on results, but one team was trying to break down the other for most of the match.

Albion had an expected goals ratio of 1.55 compared to Boro’s 0.63. Moore is trying to build the sort of team fans wanted during the Pulis years.

But he needs games in the dug-out to get management experience. He deserves time to hone his skills..

5 THE IMPOSSIBLE DREAM:

It went unnoticed because of Pulis’s emergence from the tunnel and subsequent events, but the Baggies played a shortened version of The Impossible Dream on the big screens just before the match.

There was disappointment when the club stopped playing The Liquidator, but after events of the past year, could this be a worthy replacement?

It’s a song that resonates with many fans following Cyrille Regis’s passing, and with Darren Moore in the dug-out, could be a poignant opening.

Whether the fans take to it or not, however, remains to be seen. It got a rather muted response on Saturday.