Middlesbrough 2-2 Sheffield United: Chuba Akpom earns Boro draw with Blades
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Chuba Akpom watched his header go in for his, and Boro's, second goal
Chuba Akpom's double saw Middlesbrough twice fight back to claim a point in an entertaining Championship match with Sheffield United.
The away side took an early lead when Sander Berge's low strike from 18 yards beat Zack Steffen in the Boro goal.
Akpom levelled with a close-range finish from Isaiah Jones' cross after some lovely interplay down the Boro right, for his first goal for the club since April 2021.
Ryan Giles slashed Iliman Ndiaye's drilled centre into his own net but Akpom headed home to rescue a point for Chris Wilder's hosts.
The draw means Boro, who saw sub Duncan Watmore hit a post late on as they looked for a winner, remain without a victory this season.
In hot conditions it was credit to both sets of players that the pace of this early season encounter hardly dropped across the 90 minutes, with both teams searching for a third goal right up until the end.
Home goalkeeper Steffen will perhaps think he should have done better with Berge's opening goal for the Blades, as his low shot seemed to go through the USA international.
Akpom quickly levelled for the home side following some incisive passing, and it was they who then enjoyed the better of things for the rest of the half.
Sub Rhian Brewster had a great chance to put the Blades back in front straight after his introduction at the break, but could not find the net after rounding Steffen.
The away side then retook the lead in highly fortuitous circumstances as home full-back Giles clattered the ball into his own goal when he could have simply allowed Ndiaye's cross to go by him.
Former Blades boss Wilder will have been pleased with how his men responded to that setback though as Akpom, who spent last season on loan in Greece with PAOK Salonika, popped up to head home from close in after a corner was headed back across goal.
Boro will look to claim their first three points of the campaign at Stoke in midweek, with Paul Heckingbottom's men also in action on Wednesday as they host unbeaten Sunderland.
Akpom will do for me - Wilder
It has been some start to the season for former Arsenal man Akpom.
He had been expected to leave Boro this summer after returning from his loan in Greece, as Wilder looked for other forward options.
However, he sufficiently impressed the manager in pre-season to get a start in their first game against West Brom, and then was praised by Wilder for his impact off the bench in last week's defeat at QPR.
"It's no secret that people would probably have thought I'd be gone by now, and maybe me too," Akpom told BBC Tees.
"It has been a rocky few months for me, which is no secret.
"I don't know what the future holds. I just have the mentality of staying professional and enjoying it. Who knows what tomorrow brings?"
Wilder, though, is keen for the former England Under-21 international to remain part of his squad.
"He'll rightly get the plaudits. For him to come back into the group and show a great attitude... He's just done an interview and said it's one day at a time but for me it isn't that unless he wants it to be, and I don't think he does," Wilder said.
"It's his job to convince me that he wants to stay at this brilliant football club and he's done enough. He has to keep going of course but we've all seen enough that he sees his medium to long-term future here. We're delighted to have him here.
"He should have come off with an injury at half-time but he wanted to stay on. I think he only came off because he really couldn't carry on and he knew he couldn't be selfish to stay on for his hat-trick and we had to drag him off in the end. That attitude will do for me."
Sheffield United boss Paul Heckingbottom told BBC Radio Sheffield:
"I enjoyed the game. I thought it had all sorts in it. I don't want to be on the backfoot when we play teams away from home, I want to try and take teams on and we did that today.
"I'm disappointed we've not won the game from the position we got ourselves in, but in terms of the identity of the team that is how I want to play.
"We didn't get enough shots away in the first half and we wanted to be better than that in the second half.
[On second equaliser] "We had the bodies in there and someone has not picked up. We'll keep working on it because when games are tight they are going to be the deciding factors."