They were a long way off their best at the King Power Stadium, failing to turn their plentiful possession and general midfield dominance into anything meaningful in the final third for much of the night.
Trailing to Jordan Ayew’s first-half penalty, which was awarded after Hayden Hackney handled on the edge of his own 18-yard box, the Teessiders were also at a numerical disadvantage as stoppage time played out, with Alfie Jones having been handed a straight red card for a foul on Patson Daka.
Rob Edwards has instilled this [Boro](http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/sport/football/middlesbrough?ref=au) side with a never-say-die character though, and so while Tommy Conway wasted a decent chance to equalise just before the 90th minute, it always felt like there might a twist in the tale. Thanks to Ayling’s aerial dominance, it arrived in the final minutes of the allotted extra period.
A third game without a victory means Boro have dropped out of the Championship’s top two, but this still felt like a night when the Teessiders took a step forward. The motto for Sunderland’s promotion last season was ‘Till The End’. It’s not a bad mantra for Boro to be adopting themselves.
The atmosphere was sucked out of the King Power as Ayling scored, with only the hardy band of travelling Boro fans celebrating raucously. Leicester’s supporters had been on their own players’ backs for much of the night, but it had looked as though Boro were going to be unable to take advantage of the hostile mood.
They hardly started as if they were determined to make things even more awkward for the Leicester players. A situation that demanded ferocity and intensity instead got the same laidback approach that had proved so costly at Watford at the weekend. As a result, the home side were able to play their way into a game that should have been much more difficult for them.
Leicester threatened on the quarter-hour mark, with Abdul Fatawu heading wide at the back post, and should have scored four minutes later. Luke Thomas swung in a free-kick from the left, but while Caleb Okoli found himself unmarked inside the six-yard box, he was unable to make a proper contact with the ball, which flew wide of the far post.
Boro’s best moments were coming down their right-hand side, where Brittain and Morgan Whittaker were linking up effectively, but when the visitors finally threatened the Leicester goal midway through the first half, the move came down the opposite flank. Jakub Stolarczyk spilled Matt Targett’s shot, but the Leicester goalkeeper reacted quickly to prevent David Strelec from being able to lift the rebound over him.
The tide appeared to be turning though, and as half-time approached, so Boro began to exert more control on proceedings. Things still weren’t really clicking in the final third, with the attacking partnership between Strelec and Tommy Conway very much still a work in progress, but there was a sense of the visitors gaining the upper hand.
Or at least there was until Hackney decided to quite literally hand Leicester their opener. The ball looped in Hackney’s direction after Aidan Morris’ clearance struck an opponent, and instinctively, the midfielder stuck out his arm to deflect it away. It was a clear handball, and while Boro’s players were adamant Hackney was stood outside the area, replays showed he was standing right on the sideline of the 18-yard box. Jordan Ayew stepped up and rolled his spot-kick down the middle.
Boro needed a strong second-half response, but while there was unquestionably more urgency about the visitors’ play after the break, clear-cut chances still proved hard to come by.
Whittaker curled a shot onto the roof of the net after the Leicester defence struggled to deal with Luke Ayling’s long throw and Alfie Jones glanced a header wide from Matt Targett’s free-kick. They were half-chances though rather than anything that was going to seriously trouble Asmir Begovic, Leicester’s replacement goalkeeper who was called into service from the bench at half-time.
With the game slipping away from his side, Edwards turned to his bench shortly after the hour mark, bringing on Riley McGree and Sverre Nypan for a disappointing Strelec and a largely anonymous Delano Burgzorg. Yet again, neither player was able to make a compelling case for why they should remain in the starting line-up.
Conway shot straight at Begovic with three minutes left, Jones’ dismissal meant Boro had to play out stoppage time with ten men, but Ayling struck in the 95th minute to salvage a point.