Stoke City and Middlesbrough took a point each from a game of few clear-cut chances in the Championship.
There were only two efforts on target throughout the match, with the Potters' Tyrese Campbell shooting wide after being put through on goal.
Boro's Duncan Watmore slipped at the crucial moment when trying to tap the ball in, while team-mate Andraz Sporar smashed a volley over the bar in the second half.
Stoke remain in the play-off places in sixth, with Middlesbrough three places below them.
Mario Vrancic's half-volley was deflected off-target early on for the Potters, but it was the visitors who truly cursed their luck after an agonising miss saw Watmore fail to properly connect with a low cross from six yards out.