Middlesbrough 0 WBA 1: Carson's glove story inspires Albion victory

West Bromwich Albion's manager, Tony Mowbray, believes Scott Carson has locked the nightmare of his infamous England howler in some secure recess of his pysche. Mowbray watched his £3.25 million summer signing protect his side's 53rd-minute lead here with a superb display of goalkeeping.

Mowbray, back at the club where he spent 10 years as a player, gave credit to his defence for giving his promoted side the first victory of their Premier League season. But he did not argue with the view that Carson had been the decisive factor, the former Liverpool player pulling off a string of saves in the kind of display that made his reputation before the blunder that contributed to England's Euro 2008 qualifying failure against Croatia last November.

As Middlesbrough, desperate to avoid a fourth consecutive defeat, mounted sustained pressure, Carson defied Gary O'Neil and Afonso Alves on two occasions each as well as keeping out Mido and David Wheater at close-range, inspiring his team-mates to complete their second clean sheet away from home. For good measure, James Morrison twice cleared off the line.

"Scott's talent will get him back into the England set-up if that is what his goal is," Mowbray said. "He was not the sole reason we won the game today but he made some great saves. He is a big lad, he's agile, he's alert, he does the right thing at the right time.

"For a 23-year-old boy playing in a game like the Croatia one with the unfortunate situation that arose, it is a great credit to his character and personality that he is producing performances like he did today."

Middlesbrough could only lament the quality of their finishing after the Swedish defender Jonas Olsson had scored Albion's decisive goal. Gareth Southgate (below), who had been manager of the month in August, will reflect on a barren September.

With Mido's return in attack, Boro had looked sharp enough to restore their momentum and the Egyptian's partnership with Alves soon yielded promising moments, not least when the Brazilian thundered a first-half shot against the underside of Carson's bar. Albion, who lost the midfielder Do-Heon Kim to a ligament injury after 45 seconds, created openings of their own. Boro's Ross Turnbull had to stretch to tip a long-range attempt by Borja Valero over the bar and the goalkeeper pulled off a splendid save from the resulting corner, pushing Ryan Donk's header on to a post.

At half-time – taking off Sherjill MacDonald, with whom he had replaced Kim – Mowbray sent on Ishmael Miller to partner Roman Bednar as a second front man. The move was soon rewarded when Turnbull flapped at a Jonathan Greening corner from the left, the ball was propelled back into the danger zone by Miller's overhead kick and it fell nicely for Olsson to sidefoot home.

Boro raised the tempo but Carson saved point-blank from Mido, threw himself to his left to keep out O'Neil's low strike and tipped a rising drive from the same player over the bar. In the closing minutes he smothered an Alves free-kick and blocked a Wheater header, ensuring that a couple of moments of wastefulness by Miller did not prove costly.