Middlesbrough beat West Brom 2-1 as they made it the best start in their history after six Championship games.

David Strelec and Kaly Sene scored either side of half-time as Boro sealed a fifth win of the campaign. Both were their first goals for the club.

Rob Edwards’ side will be top of the table come the end of the weekend whatever happens, as they extended their lead to four points.

For West Brom, who rarely threatened until a late Aune Heggebo consolation, it is now back-to-back defeats.

First goals for Strelec and Sene as Boro seal win

Middlesbrough took the lead in the 26th minute when George Edmundson’s long throw was flicked on by the head of skipper Luke Ayling for Strelec to stab home from just inside the six-yard box.

Despite a dominant period from the visitors, Sene – who replaced Strelec at the break – doubled Boro’s lead in the 61st minute after rolling the ball into the bottom-left corner from Hayden Hackney’s cool backheeled pass.

West Brom struggled to regain their momentum as Jayson Molumby had a tame backheeled effort stopped and Mikey Johnston’s powerful shot was blocked by the Boro defence.

They eventually pulled one back in the 90th minute when Heggebo scored his first Championship goal with a powerful header that sailed over Sol Brynn, but Boro withstood the threat of a potential comeback to secure their fifth league win of the season.

‘It was tactical!’ – Edwards on surprise half-time striker change

Middlesbrough boss Rob Edwards made the surprise decision to bring off goalscorer Strelec at half-time to be replaced with Sene. It was a decision justified as the latter scored the crucial second.

“It was a tactical one and it’s always nice when it comes off!” he told Sky Sports after the game.

“Like a lot of the lads here, David is getting up to speed. We felt Kaly’s energy and intensity would have helped us.

“Both are going to be big players for us. We’ve got a squad here, and I’ve said if we need to go early with subs we will. It doesn’t always have to be on 65 or 70 minutes.

“I’m delighted and relieved. We weren’t at our best, but we had good moments and found a way to win the game. When you can do that when you’re not at your best it’s great.”

Mason: Small moments cost us

West Brom boss Ryan Mason:

“I’m disappointed we lost. That’s the overall emotion. We came here to win and didn’t do that.

“It was small moments. The first goal came from a long throw. Until that point we didn’t really feel there was a great deal in the game at that point.

“We were disappointed to concede the second goal at the time we did because we’d had a good chance just before that. But that’s football.”