Plymouth Argyle 3-3 Middlesbrough: Pilgrims twice come from behind in thrilling draw
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Finn Azaz scored his third goal of the season when he put Argyle 2-1 up
Plymouth Argyle twice came from a goal down to win a point as they held Middlesbrough to an entertaining 3-3 draw in the Championship.
Josh Coburn put Boro ahead from close range midway through the first half before Bali Mumba levelled after a good passage of play from the hosts.
Finn Azaz's superb effort put Argyle ahead at the break, but Boro responded as first Coburn converted after his penalty kick was saved and then Sam Greenwood put them in front soon after.
But Morgan Whittaker levelled the scores once again as his curling free kick from the left evaded everyone and skipped off the wet turf into the net.
Middlesbrough drop to 11th in the Championship table while Argyle remain in 19th place, six points off the relegation places.
Argyle could have gone ahead in the third minute when Mumba went through after a lovely one-two with Azaz, but Seny Dieng was on hand to save well as Mumba tried to lift it over him.
But it was Boro - playing their second game in Devon this week after beating Exeter City in the Carabao Cup - who took the lead in the 23rd minute when Lukas Engel's low driven cross was turned in by Coburn, who almost moved to Argyle on loan in the summer.
Home goalkeeper Michael Cooper did well to save Matt Crooks' volley from a corner kick soon after as Boro appeared to be taking control.
But the save seemed to cause a momentum shift as a fine passing move between Whittaker, Luke Cundle and Azaz ended with Mumba calmly slotting home with his left foot after 34 minutes.
Four minutes later Azaz doubled the lead with a fine individual strike as Argyle eyed only a fifth win in the league this season.
But Boro improved as Greenwood went close and Crooks forced another save from Cooper in the opening 10 minutes of the second period.
On the hour they levelled as Dan Scarr felled Greenwood in the box after the Argyle defender's loose pass was intercepted and Coburn was first to react to Cooper's save from his penalty kick. Four minutes later Crooks' cutback found Greenwood for a smart finish to make it 3-2.
Two minutes later Boro felt they should have had another penalty kick after Mickel Miller's challenge on Isiah Jones, but the referee felt it was outside the box - a decision that the visitors would rue shortly after when Whittaker curled in fortuitously to score for a third successive game.
Dieng did well to save from Jordan Houghton's long-range effort as the hosts looked to win it in stoppage time, while at the other end Cooper kept out substitute Morgan Rogers.
Plymouth Argyle manager Steven Schumacher told BBC Radio Devon:
"I thought it was a great game, I thought it was two good teams, two teams who like to attack.
"I thought there were moments of quality and real good passages of play from both sides.
"I felt we were really good first half, even though we fell behind I thought we were playing well and probably deserved to go in ahead.
"Second half they came out and we couldn't get the ball off them for 15 minutes and they showed their quality and they got themselves ahead, so it was a real tight game, end to end.
"But the character our players showed was outstanding and I'm really pleased to get something from the game because overall I would say a draw's probably a fair result."
Middlesbrough manager Michael Carrick told BBC Radio Tees:
"It's tough in many ways, we did enough to win the game really, I think there was a lot in the performance that was good.
"We didn't give them an awful lot and what we did give them they punished us for.
"I felt second half as we came out we were terrific and a free-kick from nowhere going in at the back post is what it is.
"It's frustrating, it feels a bit like a defeat really, but the positive inside of that is we've done enough to win the game, so there's plenty of good things in there."