Middlesbrough Vs Leicester City held 1-1 as McGree rescues Boro late

In a tight middlesbrough vs leicester city clash at the Riverside Stadium, Caleb Okoli put Leicester ahead before Riley McGree levelled in first-half stoppage time to secure a 1-1 draw that left Middlesbrough frustrated and Leicester hanging on in the relegation battle.

Middlesbrough Vs Leicester City ends 1-1 at the Riverside Stadium

Caleb Okoli opened the scoring for the visitors when he got in front of Boro defender Luke Ayling to head home Divine Mukasa's right-wing free-kick, giving relegation-threatened Leicester City a shock lead in the first half; Riley McGree then tucked away his third goal in his past four matches in first-half stoppage time to level for the hosts, who have now gone three Championship matches without a win after a previous run of six victories.

Okoli's header and the turnover that led to McGree's leveller

Okoli's header from Mukasa's free-kick put Leicester ahead, but the same defender gave the ball away in the build-up to Middlesbrough's equaliser just before the interval. Boro sprang forward as Hayden Hackney played the ball to the left to Tommy Conway, who pulled it back for McGree to finish, cancelling out the opening goal and keeping Boro in touch with the top of the table.

Second-half openings and near-misses

Early in the second half a long ball saw Ayling attempt to head clear, but the botched effort left Patson Daka one-on-one with keeper Sol Brynn; Daka headed wide. Leicester continued to threaten when Abdul Fatawu sent an effort narrowly wide of the far post, while at the other end Callum Brittain's cross was nudged narrowly wide by David Strelec, Conway fired well over, and veteran keeper Asmir Begovic saved with his legs to deny McGree.

What the draw means for the table and upcoming fixtures

Promotion hopefuls Middlesbrough had to settle for a point against relegation-threatened Leicester City at the Riverside Stadium; a victory would have put second-placed Boro level on points with leaders Coventry City, who will go five points clear of them if they beat Sheffield United on Wednesday evening. After a recent defeat by Coventry saw the Sky Blues regain top spot from Boro, Kim Hellberg's side have dropped points against two teams battling against the drop, having played out a goalless draw against Oxford United at the weekend. They are six points clear of third-placed Ipswich and Hull in fourth, but will be keen to get back to winning ways in their next match, away to Birmingham on Monday.

Leicester's fight under Rowett and the managers' response

Leicester have drawn both their matches under new boss Gary Rowett and remain third from bottom, without a win in eight league matches, but they are just a point behind West Bromwich Albion, the team immediately above them in the table; their performance suggested they are capable of getting out of trouble under Rowett, and they are at home to Norwich on Saturday. Middlesbrough boss Kim Hellberg told Radio Tees: "It makes it one loss in the last nine, but of course you want to win games. We weren't good enough to win today. From the last two games we created a lot of opportunities but for us now the ball is not going into the net to win it. "

For Middlesbrough the draw keeps pressure on the leaders and postpones a chance to close the gap on Coventry City; for Leicester the point under Rowett maintains a fragile upward trajectory as they prepare to face Norwich at home on Saturday.