Tony Mowbray receives hero's welcome as Middlesbrough seal opening day win

Tony Mowbray received a hero's welcome on Teesside, as Middlesbrough ended a decade without an opening day win.

The Redcar-born defender who both captained and managed his hometown club stepped down from his role as head coach at Birmingham City while he underwent medical treatment.

Stepping out onto the turf at the Riverside, he was visibly moved as he received a standing ovation from the supporters.

He told the crowd it had been the "toughest six months of his life", but thanked all those who had supported him through a difficult period.

On the pitch, Middlesbrough were looking to end a ten-year opening day curse, having not won their opening fixture since 2014.

They came close to opening the scoring against Swansea inside the first ten minutes when Isaiah Jones very nearly lobbed goalkeeper Lawrence Vigoouroux.

Jones then won Boro a penalty when he was brought down by Azeem Abdulai in the box. Emmanuel Latte Lath, who scored 17 goals on his maiden season on Teesside, netted from twelve yards to put the home side ahead.

Despite second half chances, the lead held for Michael Carrick's side, who will be eyeing an improvement on last season when they just missed out on the Championship play-offs.

Speaking after the game, he said: “I’m delighted. I knew it was going to be a hard game. They’re a good team and make you work for it.

“I’m really pleased. I thought the discipline and the attitude of the players to stick to the plan and not get frustrated and cut off certain spaces was excellent. The amount of chances we had, we could have made it a lot easier for ourselves.

“I said it wasn’t going to be perfect but we defended incredibly well as a team, protected the goal and box unbelievably well towards the end. All round, really good, I’m really happy.”

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