JIMMY Floyd Hasselbaink was the Boro hero at the Hawthorns yesterday with his first half double ensuring the Teessiders didn't pick up an unwanted half century.

It was 49 games since Steve McClaren's side last won back-to-back Premier League games - ironically against West Brom and Liverpool two years ago - and the Dutch master ensured it was a rare hat-trick of North-East successes at West Brom this season.

Boro joined both Newcastle and Sunderland by taking all three points from Bryan Robson's struggling side.

The win, against ten men following Nigel Quashie's second half dismissal for kicking George Boateng, was also a west Midlands hat-trick for Boro.

The Teessiders had already enjoyed successes at Birmingham City and Aston Villa this term and, puts some valuable breathing space between McClaren's men and the bottom four.

Another win over Birmingham next weekend at the Riverside will put the Teessiders well on the way to safety.

The talking point before the game was the absence of Stewart Downing from Boro's starting XI with the Teessider suffering a reaction to the knee operated on six months ago.

McClaren made two changes to the side which went down 1-0 in the UEFA Cup second leg last Thursday but still progressed to the last 16.

The injured Downing was replaced by Emanuel Pogatetz and Andrew Davies dropped to the bench with Yakubu coming in to a 3-5-2 formation.

The more adventurous formation almost paid immediate dividends.

Yakubu forced a corner in the second minute and Chris Riggott's header back into the danger area from Gaizka Mendieta's deep corner found the £7m man unmarked four yards out.

With the whole goal to aim at, however, he only managed to guide his header over Tomasz Kuszcak's bar.

Boro continued to threaten and despite enjoying the lion's share of possession West Brom's forwards failed to create any clear cut openings and a Neil Clement free-kick apart, Mark Schwarzer was largely redundant in the first half.

Yakubu and Hasselbaink were different gravy, however.

Whenever the ball came anywhere near the Nigerian, panic engulfed the Baggies' defenders.

It needed a combination of Martin Albrechtsen and Curtis Davies to stop him shooting ten yards out after five minutes and he created the opener for strike partner Hasselbaink.

A clever through ball behind Clement in the 17th minute gave Hasselbaink the chance to run at goal and his powerful effort from the edge of the area was too powerful for Kusczak who should have done better as the ball squirmed under his dive and flew into the net.

The Baggies endeavour was clear to see but the quality was sadly lacking as they attempted to turn round the deficit.

Their best chance of the opening half arrived just after the half hour. Kanu fed Diamara Kamara inside the box but his effort at goal was blocked by Franck Queudrue.

Jonathan Greening pounced on the rebound and should have done better than firing wide of the left hand post from 20 yards.

McClaren would have been more than happy to go into the interval one up but his side were gifted a second a minute before the half-time whistle.

Clement brought Hasselbaink down two yards from goal and the striker got up to crack home his 12th goal of the season thanks to a large slice of luck.

His free-kick effort was at best destined for Kuszczak's left hand corner but took a massive deflection off Ronnie Wallwork leaving the Baggies' goalkeeper stranded as the ball crept into the bottom right hand corner of the net.

With traffic at a standstill for more than two hours on the M6 a number of Boro fans arrived at the ground with their side already two up.

With the second half beginning with Boro on the back foot, a last-ditch challenge by Franck Queudrue on Kanu, and then a free header from Quashie was straight at Schwarzer reminded the Teessiders they were still in a game.

The magnitude of the game between fourth and fifth bottom was apparent at the start of the second period.

Lee Cattermole was booked for bringing down ex-Boro man Greening before former Southampton and Portsmouth midfielder Quashie went one worse.

The Scotland international must have still been stewing on the header straight at Schwarzer because less than ten minutes later he was heading down the tunnel after kicking Boateng.

The Boro man went in high with Quashie and as he came down to earth a kick in the back of the Holland international was clearly visible to Mike Dean.

After a short wait while both sets of players exchanged their views on the incident, the referee brandished his red card.

That ended the game as a contest as the Baggies desire to claw their way back into the game followed Quashie down the tunnel.

A long-range effort from Greening whistled past Schwarzer's left-hand post but more often than not when West Brom players got into wide positions their team-mates seemed none too keen to get into the box and support Kanu and Kamara.

Kanu's skill was still a danger and Schwarzer produced a smart save low to his left to deny the Nigeria international when he turned and shot in one smooth movement in the 77th minute.

Boro were less than adventurous against ten men - they didn't register a shot at goal after the break - but their hard work in the opening half laid the foundation for the victory.

Result: WBA 0, Middlesbrough 2.

Read more about Middlesbrough here.