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Caleb Okoli put Leicester ahead in the first half Promotion hopefuls Middlesbrough had to settle for a point against relegation-threatened Leicester City at the Riverside Stadium. Caleb Okoli opened the scoring before Riley Mc Gree levelled in first-half stoppage time for the hosts, who have now gone three Championship matches without a win, having previously won six in a row. 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. Leicester have drawn both their matches under new boss Gary Rowett, who will be encouraged by their spirited performance. Okoli gave the visitors a shock lead when he got in front of Boro defender Luke Ayling to head home Divine Mukasa's right-wing free-kick. But defender Okoli gave the ball away in the build-up to the hosts' equaliser just before the interval. Boro sprang forward and Hayden Hackney played the ball to the left to Tommy Conway, who pulled it back for Mc Gree to tuck away his third goal in his past four matches. Leicester had a great chance to regain the lead early in the second half, when Ayling's botched attempt to head away a long ball left Patson Daka one-on-one with keeper Sol Brynn, but the striker headed wide. Leicester continued to threaten and Abdul Fatawu sent an effort narrowly wide of the far post. 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 Mc Gree. 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 frustrating 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, who are at home to Norwich on Saturday, remain third from bottom and are 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, and their performance suggested they are capable of getting out of trouble under Rowett. Middlesbrough boss Kim Hellberg told BBC 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. "But in those games we have two more points to our tally. We wanted more but that's done, so we have to work from it and keep improving. "You take points you get at this stage of the season and keep working. We're in an unbelievable position and we will keep working hard to keep it. "It was two good teams going at each other. They have a lot of quality and we have the same. "We started well and then we're disappointed at conceding that goal. That breaks a lot of the momentum. You have to defend that free-kick better. " This video can not be played Hellberg: Boro 'weren't good enough to win' Leicester boss Gary Rowett told BBC Radio Leicester: "I can only judge them on what I see, and what I've seen is a group of players that are desperate to improve the situation they're in - desperate to do better in the league. "We've got some really talented players who have shown me in the two games that they can also play with great diligence, do the work-rate, and help each other to track runners and defend the box. "They've shown a really good mentality so far, but we've got to keep it like that. It's just the start, but it's quite a pleasing start. "It's a big point. You have to respect the fact that Middlesbrough are where we want to be, and perhaps were expected to be, but we're not - and there are reasons for that. "I thought we were defensively very good for the most part. We worked a lot on stopping them from playing through us. "We switched off probably two or three times. One was for their goal and that was a disappointment. Caleb made a mistake but reacted well to it. "We maybe lost a bit of momentum, but then finished the stronger team. So there was lots to like about the performance. " After the opportunity to rate players has closed, the score displayed represents the average from all the submissions by BBC Sport users. Comments can not be loaded To load Comments you need to enable Java Script in your browser Last Updated 24th February 2026 at 22: 46 Please Note: All times UK. Tables are subject to change. The BBC is not responsible for any changes that may be made. Manager: Kim Hellberg Formation: 4 - 4 - 2 Manager: Gary Rowett Formation: 4 - 2 - 3 - 1 Manager: Kim Hellberg Formation: 4 - 4 - 2 Manager: Gary Rowett Formation: 4 - 2 - 3 - 1 Championship All competitions All competitions All competitions Having been winless in 14 league games against Leicester between 2003 and 2017 (D8 L6), Middlesbrough have now won two of their last three against the Foxes (D1). Leicester have only lost two of their 13 league games against Middlesbrough at the Riverside Stadium (W6 D5), though one of these was their most recent visit in November 2023. Middlesbrough are unbeaten in their last five league games against Leicester (W2 D3), last having a longer run between 1930 and 1934 (9 games). Middlesbrough have alternated between defeat (2) and victory (2) in their last four midweek (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday) league games, beating Stoke City 2-1 last time out. Leicester are winless in their last 12 midweek (Tues, Weds, Thurs) league games (D4 L8), alternating between a draw and a defeat in their eight in the Championship this season. Foul by Adilson Malanda (Middlesbrough). Patson Daka (Leicester City) wins a free kick on the right wing. Offside, Leicester City. Patson Daka is caught offside. Foul by Morgan Whittaker (Middlesbrough). Luke Thomas (Leicester City) wins a free kick in the defensive half. Attempt saved. Bobby De Cordova-Reid (Leicester City) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the bottom right corner by Sol Brynn (Middlesbrough). Assisted by Patson Daka. Foul by Matt Targett (Middlesbrough). Bobby De Cordova-Reid (Leicester City) wins a free kick in the defensive half. Goal! Middlesbrough 0, Leicester City 1. Caleb Okoli (Leicester City) header from very close range to the bottom left corner. Assisted by Divine Mukasa with a cross following a set piece situation. Foul by Adilson Malanda (Middlesbrough). Bobby De Cordova-Reid (Leicester City) wins a free kick on the right wing. Alan Browne (Middlesbrough) wins a free kick in the defensive half. Foul by Stephy Mavididi (Leicester City). Corner, Middlesbrough. Conceded by Luke Thomas. Offside, Middlesbrough. Morgan Whittaker is caught offside. Attempt blocked. Matt Targett (Middlesbrough) left footed shot from the right side of the box is blocked. Assisted by Morgan Whittaker. Corner, Middlesbrough. Conceded by Caleb Okoli. Attempt missed. Matt Targett (Middlesbrough) left footed shot from outside the box misses to the right. Assisted by Riley Mc Gree. Aidan Morris (Middlesbrough) wins a free kick in the defensive half. Foul by Stephy Mavididi (Leicester City). Copyright © 2026 BBC. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.