Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship match between Middlesbrough and Sunderland at the Riverside Stadium on Sunday; substitute Nazariy Rusyn denied Middlesbrough with 83rd-minute strike after Marcus Forss gave Boro 61st-minute lead
Sunday 4 February 2024 15:50, UK
Substitute Nazariy Rusyn denied Middlesbrough derby-day victory as Sunderland hit back late to snatch a point at the Riverside Stadium.
Boro looked to be heading for a Sky Bet Championship double over their neighbours courtesy of Marcus Forss' 61st-minute strike until Rusyn sent a dipping 83rd-minute shot past Tom Glover at his near post to snatch a 1-1 draw which leaves the Black Cats just a point shy of the play-off places.
The Teessiders, who have a game in hand, remain three points worse off after allowing two to slip from their grasp on a day when Finn Azaz and Abdoullah Ba passed up glorious first-half chances for their respective sides.
Azaz might have put Boro ahead with nine minutes gone after Sam Greenwood had raced clear of defender Dan Ballard on to Lukas Engel's long ball and forced a block from keeper Anthony Patterson, but he skied over from the rebound with the goal yawning.
Boro keeper Glover saved from Jack Clarke and Trai Hume with the pace and trickery of Clarke and Ba keeping the Boro defence on its toes and the interplay between Jonny Howson, Hayden Hackney and Greenwood similarly occupying their opposite numbers.
Hackney dragged a 29th-minute attempt after robbing Jobe Bellingham and Ba warmed Glover's hands with a rising drive two minutes later before firing wastefully into the side netting when he might have had better options in the middle.
Sunderland should have been ahead five minutes before the break when Bellingham and Clarke mesmerised the home defence to seemingly present Ba with a tap-in at the far post, but Rav van den Berg somehow got across to block his effort on the line.
Luke Ayling was denied by Hume after linking promisingly with Hackney and Forss down the right, and the Boro full-back curled another effort wide with the Teessiders dominating immediately after the restart.
Patterson was fortunate to escape unpunished after dallying on a back-pass as Greenwood and Forss closed him down, but his luck ran out with 61 minutes gone.
Dan Barlaser played a free-kick short to Hackney, who laid it off to Greenwood and his scuffed shot was controlled by Forss before he smashed the ball past the helpless keeper.
Greenwood could have made it 2-0, but steered his shot across the face of goal with just Patterson to beat, and his side was made to pay when Rusyn squeezed his shot past Glover to level.
Middlesbrough's Michael Carrick:
"There's frustration and there's a little bit of we need to get what we deserve from games and performances. It feels like we're losing points that we definitely should be gaining.
"I feel for the boys because they put a lot into the game and showed a lot of quality, especially second half to control it fully, and not to come away with the win is disappointing."
Sunderland's Michael Beale:
"Our reaction, I thought, was fantastic and we go and and score a goal and then after that, I thought that with one or two of the moments we had, certainly with [Jack] Clarke getting in down the left, that maybe we should do better again.
"But if you can't win... it's a big point, How big, we won't know for another few weeks yet."
