sport news Hull City 2-2 Middlesbrough: Finn Azaz earns Michael Carrick's side a point but ... trends now

This was a terrific game between two teams who went hammer and tongs to share four goals. The point apiece they gained as reward? Pretty useless.

While both Hull and Middlesbrough remain in the hunt for the final play-off place, this draw was the result neither wanted.

It leaves them locked together on 62 points in ninth and tenth, some six points adrift of Norwich in sixth.

You wouldn't bet on either extending their season from here, though Hull do have a game in hand on Boro and Norwich, if not Coventry and Preston inbetween.

After the in-form Emmanuel Latte Lath fired Boro into an early lead, Hull came back strongly thanks to goals by Jaden Philogene and Jean Michael Seri.

But Finn Azaz rounded off a Boro counter to snatch them a share of the spoils with 19 minutes to play.

It was a fair reflection, but with just a handful of games to play, one of them really had to seize the initiative here. It ended with both disappointed.

'It was a good game of football. I’m a little bit disappointed we didn’t nick a winner, we did everything we could to win it. The players were fantastic all the way through,' Boro manager Michael Carrick said. 

'It was in the nature of both teams because they have a lot of talent and positive players on the pitch. Both teams were tested but they showed quality.

'Of course we’re still in the battle. We have got to win the next games, nothing has changed since the last game. Norwich dropped two points, we have dropped two points.'

It was Boro who came into the contest as the form team and they made the perfect start after just four minutes.

Matt Clarke played the ball out of defence, before Lukas Engel lofted a pass over the top of Hull's defence, where the speed of Latte Lath carried him clear.

The angle was exceedingly tight but the Ivorian is in hot form and that posed no difficulty as he rolled his shot between Ryan Allsop's legs and home for his sixth in eight games.