Middlesbrough battled back from two goals down to draw at Bristol City but another two dropped points leaves their automatic promotion hopes dead and buried.
Michael Carrick's side have now won just one of their last five games and a top-two tilt looks beyond them but the young manager will be buoyed by a pleasing second-half performance that saw them score two goals in six minutes to earn a fighting point.
This was an end-to-end thriller that could have gone either way. Last-ditch interventions by Boro players thwarted two early clear-cut chances, with Darragh Lenihan blocking a Harry Cornick shot on the line before Zack Steffen denied Andi Weimann at point-blank range.