Bristol City pinches a point as Boro falters again
Adam Randell nodded in a 96th-minute equaliser to earn Bristol City a 1-1 draw with Middlesbrough, which missed the chance to close the gap at the top of the EFL Championship.
With leader Coventry City losing to Southampton earlier in the day, Boro looked set to get a vital win thanks to Leo Castledine, but it could not hold out at Riverside Stadium.
Middlesbrough dominated a first half in which the Robins failed to have a single shot, but Australia's Riley McGree was the only one to test Radek Vitek on the stroke of half-time.
Aidan Morris and Alan Browne also called Vitek into action before substitute Castledine found the breakthrough in the 65th minute with a fierce finish.
Chasing a second goal, David Strelec fired a good chance straight at the goalkeeper, and Boro was made to rue its missed opportunities.
Randell thumped City's first shot on target past Sol Brynn in the 96th minute, brilliantly meeting Tomi Horvat's delivery to snatch a point for the visitors.
"It's tough to lose two points in the last minute against a team that you are playing off the pitch for 90 minutes, but it's football," Boro boss Kim Hellberg said.
"We should have killed the game off earlier, so it doesn't come down to those small margins. I'm proud of the performance but disappointed of the result.
Hellberg also suggested the seven minutes of stoppage-time might have been excessive, from his point of view.
"Teams are coming here and they are not trying to play and then they add on seven minutes for a team that didn't want to play from the first minute," he said.
"It's ridiculous. It is not the football we want. There was one minute added on in the first half. It makes no sense."
