SOMETIMES, the best thing a manager can do is admit that things are going wrong.

For the opening 54 minutes of Middlesbrough’s 2-1 victory over West Brom last night, the home side were second best. Disjointed in attack and uncharacteristically disorganised at the back, they appeared to be heading to their second defeat in the space of four days as Jayson Molumby’s first-half strike gave the Baggies a deserved lead.

Some bosses would have been reluctant to change things, not wanting to admit their initial team selection was not working out as planned. Chris Wilder has been around long enough not to worry about such concerns, so even though the second half was not ten minutes old, he made a double substitution and changed his side’s formation in an attempt to change the course of the game.

Fifteen minutes later, and Boro had scored the two goals that lifted them back into the play-off positions. Marcus Tavernier, who was moved to left wing-back from a central-midfield position, set up the first goal for Paddy McNair before scoring the second, which owed much to the disruptive influence of substitute Duncan Watmore in the six-yard box.

The second-half turnaround means Steve Bruce is still waiting for his first win of the season, with his miserable start to life as West Brom boss following an equally poor start to the campaign with Newcastle. While the Baggies continue to sink, Boro are buoyant.

November’s meeting between the two sides proved to be Neil Warnock’s swansong, with the former Boro boss saying an emotional goodbye to Boro’s supporters on the pitch at the Hawthorns in the wake of his side’s 1-1 draw.

A lot has changed since then, with only four members of the side that started Warnock’s final game also featuring in last night’s starting line-up. Tellingly, three members of last night’s side were not even on Boro’s books when Warnock departed, underlining the extent to which Wilder has shaken things up during his relatively short spell on Teesside.

Riley McGree was one of the players to sign for Wilder during the January window, and with Matt Crooks suspended, the Australian stepped up to make his first Boro start yesterday.

The Australian displayed some neat touches at the heart of midfield, and was constantly looking to get on the ball and spread passes out wide, with his 12th-minute strike providing Sam Johnstone with an early test in the West Brom goal.

Johnstone parried McGree’s shot after the Boro debutant shuffled the ball onto his left foot to get a shot away, but that proved a rare moment when the home side were able to ask a serious question of their opponents before the break.

That said, however, things might have been different had referee Michael Salisbury not overlooked a blatant foul on Isaiah Jones by Conor Townsend when the Boro wing-back was racing clear in the early stages. Townsend’s clear tug might have resulted in a red card. At the very least, it should have been a booking, but remarkably, Salisbury opted to play on.

As a result, with Boro’s defence displaying a surprising nervousness, it was West Brom who were able to carve out the better first-half chances and take a deserved lead shortly before the half-hour mark.

The Baggies’ opener owed much to some error-strewn Boro defending, with Jonny Howson’s header failing to find its intended target and a stretching Dael Fry unable to cut out the ball before it reached Andy Carroll.

Carroll, who scored at the Riverside earlier in the season in a Reading shirt, saw his cross from the byline blocked, but the ball rebounded kindly for Molumby, who was able to fire home through a crowded six-yard box. It was West Brom’s first goal in 479 minutes of football, and also the first goal they had scored under Steve Bruce.

They almost added a second six minutes later when Joe Lumley’s decision to race from his line in a misguided attempt to cut out a long ball almost ended in disaster. Karlan Grant skipped past him, but a covering Anfernee Dijksteel was able to spare his goalkeeper’s blushes by sliding in to avert the danger.

With Carroll drilling a first-time volley straight at Lumley at the start of the second half, Boro found themselves struggling to get back into the game.

The cheers that greeted the sight of Watmore and Andraz Sporar warming up on the touchline before the hour mark reflected the home crowd’s growing unhappiness at Aaron Connolly and Folarin Balogun, neither of whom were able to hold up the ball or spin behind the West Brom defence.

Wilder brought on both substitutes in an attempt to change things, although Connolly remained on the pitch with the Boro boss switching to a 3-4-3 formation and moving Tavernier to the left wing-back berth. It proved an inspired move.

Just six minutes after the tactical reshuffle, McGree was releasing Tavernier towards the byline on the left of the box with a slide-rule through ball.

Tavernier cut the ball back towards the edge of the six-yard box, and an onrushing McNair slotted home a slick first-time, side-footed finish. It was the Northern Irishman’s first goal since mid-November, and provided a perfect illustration of why Wilder is so keen to encourage his ball-playing centre-halves to look to attack.

As if to reinforce the point, another of Boro’s centre-halves, Anfernee Dijksteel, played a pivotal role in the 69th-minute winner.

Dijksteel skipped past an opponent before releasing Jones down the right, and with the visiting defence all over the place, the wing-back's low cross reached an unmarked Tavernier, who stabbed home.