THREE games into the Premier League season, and Middlesbrough remain unbeaten. So much for Aitor Karanka’s side having to feel their way back into the top-flight after a seven-year absence.

This was hardly the most inspiring of matches, in fact for long periods it was a soporific stalemate played out between two sides either unwilling, or unable, to take too many risks in search of a victory.

But in terms of confirming Middlesbrough’s ability to hold their own at this level, it was another important staging post towards the ultimate pursuit of survival. Having already taken four points from Stoke and Sunderland, decent barometers of the standard in the top-flight, Boro have now claimed another away point at West Brom.

Much tougher tests lie in wait, but Boro’s fate at the end of the season will not be determined by those games. It is afternoons such as this that will prove decisive, and while Boro’s failure to test West Brom goalkeeper Ben Foster was a disappointment, their defensive organisation and resolve augurs well.

Save for a fraught opening quarter-of-an-hour, the Teessiders did not look like conceding a goal. Daniel Ayala and Ben Gibson were superb at centre-half, Antonio Barragan proved a more than capable deputy at left-back and both Adam Clayton and Adam Forshaw dominated their opponents at the base of midfield.

Last season’s promotion success was built on the bedrock of a reliable backline – Boro kept 22 Championship clean sheets as they finished in second position – and Karanka will be delighted that his side’s solidity has survived the rise through the divisions.

Brad Guzan barely had to make a save as he celebrated his first shut-out in a Boro shirt, and while West Brom’s players were booed off by their own supporters at the end of the game, their attacking limitations were due in no small part to the quality of their opponents’ defending.

Ayala’s return is an important development – the Spaniard is arguably the most important player in the whole of the Boro squad – although Gibson’s performances in the opening three league games have also provided considerable cause for optimism.

Boro’s opening two Premier League games had seen them establish their ascendancy in the early stages, before tiring as the match wore on. This time around, they were forced to weather a rocky first 15 minutes, before stabilising to emerge as the dominant force for much of the rest of the afternoon.

West Brom’s players had clearly been instructed to target Emilio Nsue from the outset, and almost all of the Baggies’ early passing moves saw them move the ball down their left-hand side.

Nsue initially struggled to contain the threat of former Sunderland winger James McClean, whose direct running style caused problems in the opening 15 minutes.

Barragan, who looked perfectly at home at left-back as he deputised for the injured George Friend, produced an excellent sliding tackle as McClean threatened to run the length of the field early on, before Guzan was forced to produce a smart save at his front post to prevent the Irishman from converting Darren Fletcher’s well-judged ball into the box. In truth, that was to be as testing as things became for Boro’s American shot-stopper.

West Brom’s best first-half opportunity came to nothing in the 16th minute when Salomon Rondon glanced McClean’s header wide, and Boro rapidly established a foothold in the game, largely thanks to the calming influence of Clayton and Forshaw.

The pair were Boro’s key performers for most of the afternoon, with Forshaw proving especially effective as he buzzed around harrying West Brom’s midfielders.

Since coming off the bench to replace Marten de Roon in the opening game of the season, Forshaw has proved more than capable of handling the step up to the Premier League, and his crisp passing, allied to a welcome willingness to look to get onto the front foot whenever possible, enabled Boro to shake off their early torpor and control the tempo of the game.

They didn’t threaten Foster’s goal before the break, although they might have had Alvaro Negredo looked to pick out a pass when he broke dangerously into the box midway through the opening period, but their success in taking the sting out of West Brom’s attacking was highlighted by the half-hour spell that passed without Guzan having to make a save.

Rondon narrowly failed to reach a Matt Phillips corner as he slid towards goal on the stroke of half-time, but the interval arrived with the home supporters having grown increasingly frustrated by their side’s failure to break Boro down.

The hosts were no more threatening in the second half, although Craig Dawson might have done better when he headed McClean’s corner wide of the upright shortly after the hour mark.

Boro’s attacking tended to break down whenever the ball reached the wide positions, with Nsue proving especially wasteful as he squandered a succession of decent crossing positions. The full-back set up Gaston Ramirez at the start of the second half, only for the Uruguayan to slice his shot well wide.

Boro finally forced Foster to make a save with 17 minutes left, although the England goalkeeper was not unduly exerted as he prevented Cristhian Stuani from breaking the deadlock. Barragan’s surging run across the face of the box ended with him teeing up Stuani in the area, but whereas the South American had scored twice at the Stadium of Light, he could only direct a relatively tame shot straight at Foster in the middle of the goal.

Foster also saved from Ayala in the closing stages, with the defender prodding goalwards after a scramble from a corner, and the final chance of the game came to nothing when Stewart Downing flashed a shot wide from the corner of the penalty area.