Middlesbrough 1-1 Stoke City: Boro close gap to Championship's top two with draw against Potters
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Chuba Akpom remained five goals in front of Coventry's Viktor Gyokeres in the race for the Championship's Golden Boot
Middlesbrough held on for a draw against Stoke City to close the gap to the automatic promotion spots to three points.
While a share of the spoils meant Boro stretched their unbeaten home run to 10 Championship games, second-placed Sheffield United can extend their cushion over third to six points if they beat Sunderland on Wednesday.
Chuba Akpom, the division's leading scorer, took his tally to 23 for the season with a cool first-half finish, having earlier curled an effort onto the bar from the edge of the area.
Ki-Jana Hoever's fine finish under the legs of Boro goalkeeper Zack Steffen restored parity before the break and set up a tense second half at Riverside Stadium between two in-form sides.
In a thrilling finish, Steffen denied both Jacob Brown and William Smallbone in quick succession, while Paddy McNair sent an inviting opportunity for a dramatic late Boro winner wastefully wide late on.
The draw, which ended Boro's seven-game winning run in the league at home, leaves Stoke in 14th spot and 11 points off the play-off spots with nine games remaining.
Akpom was quick to test Stoke's resistance as Michael Carrick's Boro looked to move to within a point of Sheffield United, and flashed an early effort wide after latching onto a stray backpass from Ben Wilmot.
While Hoever threatened on the counter at the other end soon after, Akpom was relentless in his efforts to be the player to score the 1,000th goal at the Riverside since the ground opened in 1995.
After crashing a fierce effort off the bar, the striker started and finished a fast-flowing move for the opener.
He began by catching Ben Pearson in possession in the middle of the park, allowing Boro to break forward in numbers, before finally linking up with Riley McGree to sweep home from inside the area.
Potters keeper Jack Bonham kept out a deflected shot from McGree and a header from Aaron Ramsey before Stoke piled pressure on in search of an equaliser.
Boro stopper Steffen kept Tyrese Campbell out but was nutmegged by the in-form Hoever after the full-back found room to exploit on the right.
Both sides went in search of second-half winners, with both goalkeepers proving decisive.
McGree tested Bonham with a free-kick, while Brown had a glancing header kept out by Steffen and Smallbone - who sent an earlier half-volley wide - was also well foiled by the home keeper.
Middlesbrough boss Michael Carrick:
"I thought it was a tough game and credit to Stoke for that - they have obviously been on a good run.
"The boys are human. It's alright when it's going well, all because we draw a game it does not mean it's wrong and everyone's tired.
"I thought we finished the game really strong against Swansea on the weekend - we looked really fit and strong but today we played against a good team and they made it difficult for us."
Stoke manager Alex Neil:
"I thought it was a really good and open game but I thought over the piece we had the better chances to win the game.
"We are trying to show everyone have far we've come over a short space of time, and I thought we did that.
"I thought it was a good match between two good teams. To come away from home at a team that's playing as well as they are and to perform as well as we did, I am really pleased."