Knight to the rescue in 21s' draw with Middlesbrough

Main Club Sponsor

TICKETS

SHOP

2025-10-04T18:30+01:00

Joe Knight scored the equaliser for Albion. 📷 by Paul Hazlewood.

Albion under-21s had to settle for a point in their Premier League 2 clash as they came back from a goal down to draw 1-1 with Middlesbrough at the American Express Stadium.

Boro fringe first-teamer Alex Gilbert put his side ahead eight minutes before the interval with an excellent half-volleyed effort but later deflected Albion’s 55th-minute equalizer into his own goal. Boro right back Rio Patterson-Powell was sent off as one or two tempers frayed in the final stages, but Albion could not make their man advantage count.

Nevertheless, there was plenty to entertain the Amex crowd as Albion put a below-par first half behind them and took the game to their visitors in a feisty second period.

Nehemiah Oriola had Albion’s first effort at goal after controlling a long forward ball down the left with a single exquisite touch. For a moment the crowd must have wondered if they were to see a repeat of Kaoru Mitoma’s 2024-25 first-team goal of the season against Chelsea. Unfortunately the Albion man’s finish could not match his first touch and the ball cleared the crossbar.

Joe Knight receives instructions from Shannon Ruth before kick-off. 📷 by Paul Hazlewood.

That was after five minutes and four minutes later Oriola had another chance. Albion won the ball high up the pitch and Joe Belmont’s deft touch put Oriola in down the left only for his low shot to speed past the far post.

Boro, though, had attacking ideas of their own. Sonny Finch was unlucky not to win a corner when Freddie Simmonds seemed to have blocked the striker’s close-range header, and from a flag kick that was given, Finlay Cartwright flicked the ball just past Sebastian Jensen’s near post.

Albion were struggling to break out of defence and it was no surprise when the visitors took the lead in the 37th minute. After a spell of sustained pressure, Albion left Gilbert unmarked at the far post, and when George McCormick’s cross came over from the left, he met the ball first time with an angled shot that flew past Jensen.

It was nearly 2-0 within a couple of minutes when Jayden Carbon went through but his shot was too high thanks to a faint touch from Jensen. Finch then ran onto Carbon’s through pass only for Joe Knight and Sean Keogh to crowd him out and smother his shot.

Joe Belmont. 📷 by Paul Hazlewood.

Albion needed to make an impression further forward and almost did so in the opening minutes of the second half. First left back Sean Keogh saw his initial shot blocked, then stabbed the rebound wide. And from an Albion corner on the left, the ball reached Noel Atom, whose volley looked a goal all the way until experienced Boro goalkeeper Seny Dieng managed to block.

And after 55 minutes they were level. Tyler Silsby’s tenacity won a free kick out on the right, Josh Robertson’s precise delivery cut out Dieng, and Gilbert, under pressure from Knight, could only deflect the ball into his own net.

Albion found themselves a man up after 63 minutes when Patterson-Powell, booked earlier after a confrontation with Oriola, unaccountably blasted the ball at Knight as he lay on the ground.

To be charitable, he might have been trying to play the ball off the Albion man for a throw-in, but he used far more force than was necessary. Knight’s teammates were incensed and, after a lengthy discussion with his assistant, referee Alan Dale brandished a straight red card.

Could Albion take advantage? Their best chance came when a long cross found substitute Ben Barclay unmarked by the far post, but he elected to pass across goal and no one in blue and white was on hand to turn the ball into the net.