George Saville put Boro ahead early on before Jay Rodriguez levelled the scores before the break.

On-loan Magpies frontman Gayle found the target with a deflected strike just after the hour before another United man, Jacob Murphy, made his bow as a substitute, having joined on loan on the final day of the January transfer window.

But just a minute after Murphy’s introduction, Britt Assombalonga fired home an equaliser with quarter of an hour remaining.

And with five minutes left, Assombalonga completed the visitors’ comeback, capitalising on a defensive error to blast home and seal the points for Tony Pulis’ men.

Gayle could now feature in West Brom’s FA Cup replay against Brighton in midweek, while winger Murphy is cup-tied.

Meanwhile, Rolando Aarons made his debut for Sheffield Wednesday as Steve Bruce guided the Owls to a 1-0 win at Ipswich in his first game in charge.

Aarons replaced Fernando Forestieri with four minutes left, just before Lucas Joao’s last-gasp winner. Fellow Wednesday loanee Achraf Lazaar, however, wasn’t involved.

In League One, Blackpool’s game against Accrington Stanley was postponed, meaning the Tangerines’ Elias Sørensen missed out on the chance to face Stanley’s Dan Barlaser and Liam Gibson. Jamie Sterry’s Crewe also saw their match, against Carlisle United in League Two, called off because of a frozen pitch.

Callum Roberts made his Football League debut for Colchester United this weekend, coming off the bench to help the U’s beat Northampton Town 4-0.

And Josef Yarney played the full game for National League side Chesterfield as they were knocked out of the FA Trophy by Brackley, suffering a 2-0 defeat as the centre half made his bow for the Spireites.