An emotional Tony Mowbray spoke of his affinity for Middlesbrough and the love he feels from Teesside after returning to management on Teesside following his cancer battle.

Mowbray's first game back after almost 12 months out to have bowel cancer treatment saw his West Brom side lose 2-0 at the Riverside, having called it ironic before the game that his return just so happened to be away to Boro. In a lovely moment before the match, the Boro legend was given a rapturous applause by the home and away fans as he made his first venture to the touchline.

After applauding back, Mowbray was asked if he had to take a moment before the game, given the occasion and the reception. Mowbray said: "Not really. I have a real affinity for this football club. People here are really good to me. I've been to the last four or five home games. I've been in the directors' box and they've looked after me.

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"I have a lot to thank this club for, it's a special club. But I'm head coach of West Brom and we were only here to win. My last words before we left the dressing room were 'we're only here to win'. I genuinely thought we could win but we need to start being a bit more potent at the top end of the pitch."

But asked further what it was like to be back, and at the Riverside of all places, Mowbray got nostalgic as he added: "I'm from Teesside. I was born in Saltburn and lived in Redcar for 20 years then moved to Eaglescliffe. I spent my life here and I was telling our media guy, I lived through the 80s when this club was locked up.

"The people of Teesside appreciate not just me but the whole team: Pears, Parkinson, Cooper, Pallister, Hamilton, Slaven, Ripley. It was a special time to be here because we got back to back promotions. The fans, the people, generally remember. I walk through the car park and dads are pushing their six year old sons over towards me. It's the dad, or granddad even, who remembers. It's humbling for me but it's still disappointing to lose.

"My family were here. It's been a tough year for them but here we go again, we've had 20 years of this. Football management is always an up and down journey. Boro are a very good team. Middlesbrough are as good as anyone in the league at their best. I watched them slice Luton Town, who were in the Premier League last season, to shreds. They scored five, it could have been 10. They did the same to Sheffield Wednesday in 20 minutes."

It was 2-0 to Boro on the night, thanks to two stunning goals from Hayden Hackney and Ben Doak. It was a solid first-half performance from Boro but it wasn't completely plain-sailing as West Brom started strongly in the second half. Commenting on the game, Mowbray rued the fact his side failed to make their momentum count.

"I'd watched the last four Boro home games and they hadn't won any of them," Mowbray said. "You have to try and pray on that anxiety, I suppose. You have to start fast and we did for the first 10 minutes or so, but we didn't score which is a problem for us, a lack of goals.

"If I look at the game to the end, in the second half we were much better than the last half an hour of the first half. I haven't really seen the stats but they don't matter, we lost 2-0 to two shots outside the box. Have we got anyone who can do that? Maybe the difference is they have Doak who can step inside and bend it inside into the top corner. Fellows and Mikey Johnston have done that.

"If we'd got back to one each, and I felt in the balance of the second half, that could have happened...but it drifted away from us a bit. Good luck to them. We have to keep working with them and show how to get more bodies in the box. We generally dominated the second half without chance after chance and great save after great save."