Middlesbrough 1-1 West Brom: honours even between promotion hopefuls at the Riverside

The managerial CVs would tell you that Middlesbrough and West Bromwich are among the favourites for a return to the Premier League this season.

But what looks good on paper – Chris Wilder and Steve Bruce have seven Football League promotions between them – does not always transpire on grass.

It is the absolute infancy of the campaign, of course, but there is much work to do with these two teams before you would back either to challenge at the very top of the Championship this season.

Chris Wilder’s Middlesbrough have been pegged as promotion favourites by the bookies

A draw was fair, if only because both sides enjoyed one good half and one bad half. Perhaps that is an indicator of the strive for consistency that will be the biggest challenge for Wilder and Bruce this term.

Wilder is thought to be frustrated by Boro’s lack of attacking reinforcements this summer and the team-sheet betrayed such angst, where winger Duncan Watmore was paired in attack with Chuba Akpom, a misfit who spent last season on loan in Greece and is again expected to leave the club.

Even the back of the matchday programme listed only 17 Boro players – a quick sweep may well have found the manager’s fingerprints on that page. The notion that they are one of the frontrunners for promotion is, for now at least, not supported by the strength and depth of their squad.

But, for all of that, a Wilder team will never want for motivation and organisation – he is why the bookies have priced them incorrectly – and the hosts were far superior in the first half.

One of the reasons Boro allowed right back Djed Spence to spend last season on loan at Nottingham Forest is because they have Isaiah Jones. Equally, the 23-year-old’s presence meant Boro were relaxed about selling Spence to Spurs this summer, once a £15million fee had been negotiated. It is easy to see why.

Jones not only pocketed West Brom wideman Matt Phillips, he caused countless problems charging in a forward direction, too. He scored the game’s opener on 10 minutes and, what would have been particularly pleasing for Wilder, is that his left wing-back, debutant Ryan Giles, was at the source of the move. The Wolves loanee broke down the left before freeing Akpom, whose decision to cross rather than shoot looked ill-judged until Jones appeared at the far post and swept home.

New Boro signing Marcus Forss appeared after the interval but failed to find a winner

Giles then deserved an assist of his own when drilling low through the six-yard area. Watmore showed all the will in the world to get across two defenders to connect. But where there was a will there wasn’t a way and his effort – skewed horribly wide of an open goal – had Wilder down on his knees. He should have used the moment to spin and offer prayer to the directors’ box in a plea for more signings. Watmore’s miss would prove costly.

West Brom were never going to be as passive in the second half as they were in the first and their equaliser, on 51 minutes, was merited.

In the form of Jed Wallace and John Swift they have acquired a pair of smart free transfers this summer and they combined for the goal that would prove worthy of a point. It would not have been possible without Jayson Molumby’s pass to set Wallace away down the right and he drew back for Swift to finish first time from 10 yards.

West Brom were the more likely winners thereafter – Boro became very ragged – and Swift was thwarted from close range by goalkeeper Zack Steffen, the Manchester City loanee making his debut. Given Boro’s problems in that department last season, the American was at least a reassuring presence here. Indeed, with the game goalless he had made one tremendous, backpedalling save in tipping over the crossbar from an ambitious Wallace chip.

But while neither side deserved to win, nor could you say they deserved to lose. It was that sort of game, little bits to like and just as much to dislike. There is work to do for both Wilder and Bruce.