Hayden Hackney's first goal since mid-August preserved Middlesbrough's unbeaten home record by securing a 1-1 draw with Wrexham on their first visit to the Riverside Stadium.

Boro, sitting second, were forced to battle all the way to deliver a positive result and were thankful to the head of Hackney for finding the net with 10 minutes remaining.

That goal cancelled out Josh Windass' deflected fourth goal of the season in the seventh minute as Wrexham looked like making it back-to-back wins before Middlesbrough's intervention.

Wrexham, despite being without the suspended Callum Doyle, carried on from where they left off during the midweek win over Oxford by starting confidently.

Middlesbrough goalkeeper Sol Brynn had already turned away Ryan Longman's stinging drive before the Red Dragons took the lead from the resulting corner.

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And it was Lewis Brunt, a replacement for Doyle before an early withdrawal himself in the game, who rolled the short corner to George Thomason.

He then turned it over to Windass to shoot from 25 yards, with the ball taking a deflection off Dael Fry's outstretched boot to beat Brynn.

After that Middlesbrough threatened a couple of times through Hackney while Delano Burgzorg missed the target from distance, but Wrexham defended well to keep the home side at bay before the break.

Middlesbrough's final pass let them down on more than one occasion and head coach Rob Edwards, whose side failed to hit the target during the first half, introduced substitutes Luke Ayling, Sam Silvera, Tommy Conway and Alan Browne at half-time.

Just before the hour, Kaly Sene looked like he had a fantastic chance to level things when he was played in behind the Wrexham defence, but his touch was not good enough and the visitors recovered.

Soon after that, Conway finally tested visiting goalkeeper Arthur Okonkwo when the striker's low effort rolled into his arms after a clever Hackney pass.

That prompted Wrexham boss Phil Parkinson to make a triple change, with Nathan Broadhead, Liberato Cacace and Lewis O'Brien thrust into trying to put a halt to a heavy spell of Middlesbrough pressure.

Those changes almost earned a quick reward. Cacace's run led to O'Brien clipping a delightful cross to the back post only for Kieffer Moore to head against the top of the bar.

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But Middlesbrough kept plugging away and finally found that bit of magic to pull level in the 80th minute.

Full-back Callum Brittain's brilliant cross to the back post was perfect for Hackney to climb above former Sunderland midfielder George Dobson and head beyond Okonkwo.

It then became a question of whether Middlesbrough would find a winner and they could have done too had Okonkwo not made a flying save to deny Ayling from finding the top corner late on.