West Ham United 1-1 Middlesbrough
Last updated on .From the section Football
West Ham were again booed off by their fans after they failed to help their Championship automatic promotion claims with a draw against Middlesbrough.
The Hammers took the lead through an Abdoulaye Faye header looping in off Joe Bennett after 67 minutes.
But Middlesbrough equalised when Bart Ogbeche fired in a precise shot.
The visitors finished the stronger and a Lukas Jutkiewicz effort struck the Hammers bar before Ogbeche had a shot cleared off the line.
It was a fourth successive 1-1 draw for the Hammers, who lost ground on leaders Southampton after their 2-0 win at Hull.
The only consolation for West Ham was that second-placed Reading were beaten 3-1 by Peterborough and they are now only two points behind the Royals.
West Ham had plenty of the play in the first half but lacked the cutting edge to break down a Boro side who had come to frustrate their hosts.
The Hammers fans upped their volume level after the break and their side responded by increasing their intensity.
The reward came with Faye's first goal for the club, when his header took a touch off Bennett to leave keeper Jason Steele wrong-footed.
James Tomkins had the chance to extend West Ham's lead only for Steele to produce an excellent save, pushing a close-range header onto the bar.
The incident proved crucial as Ogbeche cut inside and powered in an angled shot late on for Boro to leave the Hammers to endure more frustration.
West Ham boss Sam Allardyce: "Eventually these draws will cost us. We were very, very patient tonight and got into the lead which was not easy because of the way the opposition sets up against us. It's frustrating because this is the best unbeaten run we've been on this season but we're not getting the points that we need from these matches.
"We didn't have that little bit of quality or the ability to just add the killer instinct and then we go and concede one of the best goals this season, it was a real moment of quality.
"It is five draws at home but then one of those was against Southampton when we had 10 men for most of the game.
"The turning point for me is the save that their goalkeeper made from James Tomkins when we were 1-0 up. If we had got it to 2-0 I think that would have been game over."
Middlesbrough boss Tony Mowbray: "I was pleased with the way that we came here and set up to frustrate West Ham because of the run they've been on we thought we could play on their anxiety a bit.
"We're in the top six and with a bit of luck and a few players back hopefully we will stay there in the last nine games of the season and get into the play-offs.
"I'm pleased for Bart - he does that kind of thing every day in training but he's been coming into my office this week and asking me for more game time. Had he not done that would he have got his chance today? It's very hard to say but I'm pleased that he did."
