Boro came away from a tricky test at Queens Park Rangers with a valuable point thanks to another impressive performance.
It was a gripping match that saw moments to forget for players from both sides against their former employer, and Boro were good value for a point that could well have been three.
Chris Wilder made a single change from the side that had emerged victorious from last Friday’s Emirates FA Cup tie at Old Trafford, with Duncan Watmore - instrumental in Boro’s equaliser in Manchester - rewarded with a start in place of Folarin Balogun.
Riley McGree, who scored his first international goal with Australia but then missed their second World Cup qualifier due to contracting COVID, was back in the UK to take his place on Boro’s bench for the first time.
Boro started with intent, and did not one bit carry the look of a side who had battled it out for 120 gruelling minutes with Manchester United over the weekend.
The Teessiders - once more roared on by a bumper away backing - could have taken the lead in the first two minutes when Andraz Sporar found Marcus Tavernier with a nutmegged pass inside the Rangers area. Tavernier could have gone for goal but opted to pass, picking out Matt Crooks whose effort was charged down.
Five minutes later, Neil Taylor went close to a maiden Boro goal when he stabbed Anfernee Dijksteel’s low cross on target, but Rs keeper David Marshall smothered the effort.
And Marshall thwarted Boro again with the best chance of the three when Duncan Watmore nodded Crooks’ cross back into a dangerous area, and Sporar met it with his head only to be denied a fingertip save from the Scot.
The home side fired a warning shot when a Lyndon Dykes won a flick-on and sent Ilias Chair streaking free, but his volley whistled wide of Joe Lumley’s goal.
And Chair would make no mistake with his next opportunity, to Boro’s cost. The Moroccan, making his first league appearance since representing his country at AFCON, was afforded too much time on the edge of Boro’s area, and this time picked his spot with a curling effort beyond Lumley into the bottom corner.
Boro were hard done by to be trailing, but a goal in first half stoppage time ensured an easier team talk for the Boro boss. It came from an unlikely source, Dael Fry wriggling free and planting a left-footed shot beyond Marshall and into the bottom corner for what was only his second goal in a Boro shirt, and his first in front of a crowd.
If the first half had started well for Boro, the second was a nightmare introduction. Within a minute of the restart, a routine ball came back to Joe Lumley, but his pass out was picked off by Chris Willock who gratefully put it away.
Boro once more responded well to going behind. Sporar thumped in a volley which Marshall pushed away, then minutes later the Slovenian rattled the crossbar with another thunderous effort on the toss.
Then came the leveller, and it was courtesy of a moment of brilliance from Isaiah Jones. The winger nutmegged his opponent before gliding into the area, and delivering a ball which former Boro man Albert Adomah was forced to prod into his own net.
From that point on, it was almost all Boro, the hosts required to make last ditch blocks and interventions on several occasions with Marcus Tavernier and Jonny Howson both striking well only to see a hooped shirt in the way.
Martin Payero was forced off on a stretcher, only minutes after coming on, meaning the Teessiders finished the match with ten men - but were relatively untroubled until the final whistle sounded.
Attendance: 14,140 (2,112 Boro)