Mombray hails bargain scorer

West Brom boss Tony Mowbray hailed the giant impact of Jonas Olsson as his side snatched their first Premier League away win of the season at the Riverside Stadium.

Olsson – an £800,000 bargain buy from Dutch club NEC Nijmegen on the last day of the transfer window – poked home the 53rd minute winner and produced a towering performance in the centre of defence.

An inspired goalkeeping performance from Scott Carson also kept Middlesbrough at bay as he pulled off three fine saves to deny Gary O’Neil, Afonso Alves and Mido, while James Morrison cleared twice off the line.

And Mowbray, once a highly respected centre-half at Boro himself, believes the 6ft 4ins Olsson can get even better once he settles into the English game and become one of the finds of the Premier League season.

Mowbray said: “I’m not sure how many of his passes set us on our way today but he brings that to us. If he puts his body on the line for the team like he did today and fights his corner, we’ll have a good player.

“He’s still got to develop his upper body strength and his heading. He’s come from Dutch football where it’s all about pass, pass, pass. That’s why I brought him here. He’s better than some of our midfielders with his decision-making.”

The Swede lashed home the only goal of the game after a half-cleared corner had been flicked back into the box by substitute Ishmael Miller, sending the Baggies up to 10th and bringing Boro’s 100 per cent home record to a crashing end.

It would have been even more embarrassing for boss Gareth Southgate if Miller had not selfishly gone for glory on the counter-attack three times in the dying seconds, instead of passing to a team-mate who was sure to score.

Southgate said: “At this moment in time I’m more than a bit fed up but you just have to roll your sleeves up and go again. It’s one of those days. We could still have been playing now and it wouldn’t have gone for us.”

It was a precious victory for Albion, who had started cautiously with just Roman Bednar up front, and were forced to reshuffle seconds after kick-off when Korean Do-Heon Kim suffered a serious injury after falling unchallenged.

“He needs to go and have a scan but our doctor thinks the minimum is his medial knee ligaments, which is six weeks out – and it could be worse than that,” confirmed a worried Mowbray afterwards.

Olsson showed his value in the 14th minute when he produced a superb challenge to deny Mido a shooting chance, and Albion came close in the 35th minute when Borja Valero dipped his long-range effort just over the bar.

Olsson was dangerous again two minutes later as he rose highest to meet a Jonathan Greening corner only to see his powerful effort superbly tipped onto the post by Ross Turnbull.

Then it was Boro’s turn, Alves finding himself with a similar chance but seeing his headed booted off the line by former Boro midfielder James Morrison, who proved a thorn in his old club’s side all afternoon.

Olsson’s goal early in the second period was the signal for a sustained period of Boro pressure, Morrison clearing again from a David Wheater header and Carson saving brilliantly at point-blank range from Mido.

Carson, another singled out for sterling praise from his manager afterwards, then palmed away an O’Neil effort in the 75th minute and got down well to save the follow-up from Mido.

Stewart Downing just failed to connect with an Adam Johnson cross and Wheater headed straight at Carson as time ran out for Boro and Miller spurned his numerous chances to wrap the game up for the visitors.

Afterwards Boro boss Southgate had few complaints about the result and admitted it was proving to be the same old story of his side failing to convert the many chances that come there way.

Southgate said: “Quite simply, we’ve got to start burying our chances. The first goal in games like this changes so much. We’ve had more than enough chances to win the game, never mind draw it.

“Up to the penalty box we did an awful lot right. We’ve been a bit open but going forward we’ve had more than enough chances to win two games and the reality is we haven’t.”