Jack Clarke’s 87th minute penalty rescued a point for the Blues as they were held to a 2-2 draw at Portman Road by Middlesbrough. The visitors went ahead against the run of play through David Strelec on 25, Kasey McAteer levelled for Town five minutes later, but Tommy Conway restored the Teessiders’ lead on 64 as they had the better of the second half, before Clarke netted from the spot following Adilson Malanda’s needless foul on George Hirst.

Town made four changes from the team which lost 2-0 at Portsmouth on Tuesday with Leif Davis returning at left-back after missing out in midweek after his partner gave birth to their first child.

Jack Taylor was back in midfield, Jaden Philogene wide on the left and Ivan Azon as the number nine. Cedric Kipre, Clarke, Dan Neil and Hirst dropped to the bench.

Middlesbrough were again without key midfielder and summer Town target Hayden Hackney but forward Morgan Whittaker was back on the bench and Matt Targett was fit enough to start and former Blues loanee Jeremy Sarmiento OK to be among the subs, the pair having been subbed in their 1-0 defeat to Pompey last weekend.

Boro made two changes with Alex Gilbert and Luke Ayling coming into the team for Riley McGree, who dropped out of the squad, and Sarmiento. Ex-Blues central defender George Edmundson was also on the bench.

Town created the game’s first chance in the sixth minute having seen all the ball in the opening phase. McAteer won the ball on the right, then eventually received it back and crossed low, Azon flicking just wide at the near post with his heel.

On 11, a long ball down the middle by Christian Walton led to a mix-up between Boro keeper Sol Brynn and Malanda on the edge of the area but Davis was unable to get onto it.

The Blues continued to dominate and pass the ball around with confidence with the Teessiders sloppy and losing possession in their own half regularly. On 17 Taylor scuffed wide from distance.

A minute later, Azon went closer, the Spaniard was inadvertently found in a good position on the left of the box by a speculative Dara O’Shea effort, the on-loan Como man’s shot deflecting off a defender and wide.

In the 23rd minute, the Blues put together their best move of the half, Azon sweeping the ball wide to McAteer on the right, the Irish international feeding in Darnell Furlong, who was making a lung-busting run forward inside him but the right-back’s low shot was wide of Brynn’s left post.

It had been virtually all Town but on 26 the Teessiders went in front via their first serious attack of the game.

The Blues thought they’d repelled the initial danger, but Aidan Morris played in the unmarked Alan Browne on the right of the box and the former Preston man cut across to Strelec, who turned into the net from a few feet.

But Boro’s lead lasted only five minutes. Right on the half-hour, Furlong played a ball forward for Azon making a run forwards towards the right of the box from the centre. The Spanish striker back-heeled into the path of McAteer, who smashed a low left-footed 20-yard shot past Brynn to his left and into the corner of the net.

The Portman Road crowd delightedly celebrated McAteer’s second goal for the club and second in two games.

The Teessiders’ tendency to give the ball away cheaply in their own final third almost led to a second Town goal on 33, Nunez forcing an error as Boro sought to play out from the edge of their six-yard box, the ball eventually reaching Philogene, but the winger’s shot deflected to Ayling, who chested back to Brynn.

On 36, O’Shea rose highest to head a Davis free-kick from the left after Philogene had been fouled across the face and just wide, Brynn juggling the ball out of play.

Two minutes later, Philogene turned sharply on the edge of the area before hitting a well-struck effort which Brynn did well to palm wide to his right.

Boro were next to threaten on 41, Gilbert crossing from the left and Stelec turning into Walton’s arms with the Blues unhappy that Browne had held back Matusiwa earlier in the move preventing the Dutchman from getting back.

After one additional minute, referee Jarred Gillett ended a first-half dominated by the Blues.

Town had had the better of it from the start against a scuffy Boro side, guilty of giving the ball away in their own final third all too frequently.

The Blues created but Furlong had been unable to take their best opening of the half just before the visitors took the lead against the run of play.

But Town reacted well to the setback with Furlong, Azon and McAteer carving out one of the Blues’ best team goals of the season.

Town had had one or two other opportunities from there but no really clear-cut openings.

Boro created the second half’s first danger, Callum Brittain flashing the ball across the face in the third minute which Furlong put out of play at the back post.

The Blues went nearer on 50, Davis whipping over a free-kick from the left which Boro skipper Dael Fry stabbed out to Nunez, the Chilean hitting a shot from the edge of a very crowded box which was blocked by Strelec.

Within a minute, the visitors came close to going back in front. Conway brought the ball across the edge of the area before feeding Browne out wide on the right. The Irish international stood up a cross which Gilbert sent towards goal at the back post, Matusiwa blocking on the line, the ball ricocheting off O’Shea and into Walton’s arms.

Furlong protested that Targett had shoved him over as the ball came across and the right-back had a case. Soon after, the former Southampton man was booked for a poor challenge on Taylor.

Middlesbrough were seeing more of the ball than they had in the first half with the game even more open than it had been before the break. On 56, Strelec shot at Walton from an angle, McAteer having just failed to find Azon with a cross from the right on a promising Town break.

Former Blues loanee Sarmiento was introduced for Gilbert just after the hour, before Town twice went close to going in front.

First, Azon smashed a shot on the half-turn from just inside the area which Brynn palmed over. Then, from the resultant corner, the ball ran loose to Taylor, who hit a low shot which McAteer looked to divert towards goal but was unable to get enough on.

And on 64, the Teessiders took the lead for the second time. Strelec was played in down the right and squared to Brittain breaking into the area inside him, Walton palmed it out and Conway tapped into the empty net.

Town immediately made changes, Anis Mehmeti and Clarke replacing Nunez and Philogene.

With Boro tails now well up, Sarmiento forced Walton to save with a shot from distance in the 67th minute.

The visitors were now well on top, Walton saving from Strelec, before Davis blocked from Sarmiento and Malanda’s follow-up was deflected behind.

With the game being played entirely in the Town half, the Blues were forced into a change, McAteer limping off with a knock on which he had had treatment shortly beforehand and Sindre Walle Egeli taking over wide on the right.

The Blues worked their way out for a rare attack in the 76th minute but Mehmeti’s shot was too close to Brynn, who claimed above his head.

Four minutes later, Walle Egeli sent over a cross from the right, Clarke headed back across goal but it was nodded behind.

From the corner, Greaves headed powerfully towards goal but Brynn saved. The linesman’s flag immediately went up indicating Furlong was offside and hampering the keeper, suggesting it wouldn’t have counted had it gone in.

Town swapped Azon, who had been effective in the first half, most notably on the Town goal, for Hirst and Neil for Matusiwa, while the visitors switched Strelec for Sam Silvera.

In the 87th minute, the Blues were handed a lifeline when Mehmeti crossed from the right and Malanda needlessly hauled back Hirst with the Scotland international not looking like he was going to get anywhere near it. Referee Gillett took his time, then pointed to the spot to the fury of the visitors.

Malanda was booked before Clarke stepped up and smashed the penalty past Brynn and into the net for his 15th goal of the season.

The impetus was now with the Blues with the crowd getting behind their side, eyeing a second comeback victory in two home games. A long spell of Town possession ended with a Walle Egeli cross looping just beyond the far post from the right.

The fourth official indicating an additional eight minutes was greeted by a huge roar, before Whittaker replaced Conway for Boro and Neil was booked for a foul.

On 92, Furlong joined him for stopping a visitors breakaway after losing the ball, then Brittain had his name taken for kicking the ball away ahead of a Town free-kick.

Seven minutes into time added on, with Boro throwing everything forward with a win needed to maintain their automatic promotion hopes, the Blues broke away and looked in a promising position until Hirst was harshly adjudged to have fouled Brittain when the offence looked have been against the the Town man, the Boro full-back having been lucky to escape a second yellow cards moments earlier for a challenge on Taylor.

Deep in injury time, Sarmiento was booked for pulling back Taylor, but Town were unable to make anything of the free-kick, the whistle ending the afternoon soon afterwards.

At the end, there were one or two frank exchanges of views, Boro manager Kim Hellberg and defender Ayling approaching Greaves, while Blues’ coach Sone Aluko and Sarmiento were spotted chatting.

Town will feel happier about the result than the Teessiders, whose hopes of winning automatic promotion now seem over following their seventh game without a victory having been top in mid-February, even if they had failed to win for a second successive match.

The Blues having been much the better side in the first half, Boro took the game to the home side in the second and really ought to have made the points safe given their dominance at 2-1.

Town looked like they were going to fall to only their second Portman Road defeat of the season when Malanda conceded a needless penalty, Clarke netting from the spot for the sixth time this season.

The Blues go back to second, ahead of Millwall on goal difference and Southampton in fourth by a point with a game in hand on both their rivals. Boro remain fifth but three points behind Town, again having played a match more.

Town are next in action when they travel to Charlton Athletic on Wednesday with another away game at West Brom next Saturday.

Town: Walton, Furlong, O’Shea (c), Greaves, Davis, Matusiwa (Neil 82), Taylor, McAteer (Walle Egeli 72), Nunez (Mehmeti 64), Philogene (Clarke 65), Azon (Hirst 81). Unused: Palmer, Kipre, Johnson, Akpom.

Middlesbrough: Brynn, Brittain, Ayling, Fry (c), Malanda, Targett, Morris, Browne, Gilbert (Sarmiento 61), Conway (Whittaker 90), Strelec (Silvera 81). Subs: Wildsmith, Edmundson, Bangura, Hansen, Ibeh, Sene. Referee: Jarred Gillett (Australia). Att: 29,684.

Photo: Action Images/Reuters