Southgate demands Boro response after Albion rout

Middlesbrough manager Gareth Southgate warned his players to use the embarrassment of their 5-0 thrashing by West Bromwich Albion as a wake-up call for the rest of the Championship campaign.

Southgate was stunned by the size of Saturday’s defeat to their promotion rivals at the Riverside Stadium but he is determined to make sure his players learn the lessons of the humiliation.

Middlesbrough are still third in the table but the gap between them and leaders Albion looked vast as Roberto Di Matteo’s team ran riot.

“We’ve had an embarrassing defeat,” Southgate said. “I’ve learnt a lot about some people and it is better to know that now than later.

“We got exactly what we deserved. Credit to West Brom because they are a good side and they deserved to win the game. They have hit us with a sledgehammer.

“It has been a wake-up call. We have to make sure we use it to our advantage. We have to make sure it hurts and we have to make sure we respond properly next week against Coventry.”

Di Matteo believes the result will send a message to Albion’s promotion rivals: “We have put a statement out for the rest of the league.

“It was certainly one of our best performances so far and obviously we will take confidence from the performance. We have a very good group of players.”

Chris Brunt’s deflected free-kick put the Baggies in front after 17 minutes and the midfielder then pounced on a poor clearance to score his second goal from long-range in the 31st minute.

Youssouf Mulumbu’s header made it 3-0 before half-time and late strikes from Roman Bednar and Jerome Thomas compounded the misery for Gareth Southgate’s third placed team.

Newcastle, relegated from the top-flight last season, stayed second after a 3-1 victory over struggling Plymouth but boss Chris Hughton wasn’t completely convinced by the display.

Steven Taylor opened the scoring in the sixth minute before Karl Duguid’s 50th minute equaliser gave Plymouth hope.

Kevin Nolan had converted substitute Danny Guthrie’s 61st minute cross to restore Newcastle’s lead and Argyle, who made a 818-mile round-trip to Tyneside, were beaten when Andy Carroll struck in the 84th minute.

“There were periods of the game where we made hard work of it,” Hughton said. “For whatever reason, we weren’t able to sustain it and of course the longer the game goes without getting that second one, they Plymouth are lifted by the occasion and feel they can get something.”

Ipswich boss Roy Keane admitted he is in for a long season after South African midfielder Quinton Fortune stepped off the bench to earn Doncaster a 3-3 draw at the Keepmoat Stadium.

Keane’s side remain winless and in the bottom three after their worst start to a season for 45 years.

“I think we gave bad goals away,” Keane said. “It’s certainly going to be one of those seasons where it’s going to be a long, tough battle for us and we’re going to have to give some players the benefit of the doubt as they settle into the football club both on and off the pitch.

“We’ve got one or two injuries and we’re lacking a bit of confidence as you would expect, but no one is going to hand us a victory. We’ve got to keep battling away and do it for ourselves.”

Elsewhere, Preston defeated Coventry 3-2 to keep up their promotion push, while QPR won 2-0 at Cardiff and Peterborough came from two goals down to beat Reading 3-2.

Crystal Palace ended their poor run with a 1-0 win over Derby and Blackpool won 1-0 at Nottingham Forest.

Bristol City drew 1-1 with Scunthorpe, Barnsley shared a goalless draw with Swansea and Leicester drew 3-3 at Watford.