Leicester City 1-1 Middlesbrough: ten-men Boro fight back with last-minute equaliser
Middlesbrough lost ground in their Championship promotion push, despite a last-minute equaliser against Leicester City at the King Power Stadium.
A late first-half penalty from Leicester’s Jordan Ayew gave them the lead, before a late red card to Alfie Jones left Middlesbrough chasing the game.
However, in the closing seconds, Luke Ayling’s header rescued a point for the away side and sent the away end into delirium.
Luke Ayling rescues a point at the King Power! pic.twitter.com/62LozfGcYy
— Middlesbrough FC (@Boro) November 4, 2025
Middlesbrough were hoping to bounce back from a poor defeat at Watford and put pressure on leaders Coventry, with Rob Edwards making a couple changes, with Dael Fry, Morgan Whittaker and Alan Browne dropping out.
After a slow start to the game, a set-piece in the 19th minute gave Leicester the chance to take the lead.
Luke Thomas’ whipped ball fell to the feet of Caleb Okoli on the six-yard line, but he failed to make any proper contact with the ball and it fell wide of the post.
In the 25th minute, a low-driven shot by Matt Targett stung the gloves of Jakub Stolarczyk and was spilled to David Strelec, but the Leicester ‘keeper was up again quickly to stop the effort.
Just before the break, Leicester won a penalty, due to a stray hand by Hayden Hackney hitting the ball in the box, with the linesman instantly flagging the infringement.
Ayew calmly rolled the ball into the corner of the goal, with Sol Brynn diving the wrong way, to give the hosts the lead.
“Luke Ayling in the nick of time for Middlesbrough” pic.twitter.com/GNucWdUI4v
— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) November 4, 2025
Middlesbrough started the second half with real authority, with Whittaker’s left-footed shot leaving substitute ‘keeper Asmir Begovic worried, but it narrowly went over the bar.
In the 73th minute, a clipped ball by Callum Britain met the head of Tommy Conway, but he was unable to turn the ball goalwards.
Late on, a mistake by Jannik Vestergaard gave Middlesborough their best chance of the game, as a miss-kick from the defender sent Conway one-on-one with Begovic, but the keeper made a smart save down to his left.
Jones was shown red, when he brought down Stephy Mavididi, as he darted towards the penalty area, but Ayling sparked incredible celebrations in the away end, as his towering header beat the stranded Begovic.
Despite the late comeback, Middlesbrough slipped out of the automatic promotion spots and into third, and will hope to get back to winning ways, as they play Birmingham City on Saturday.
