Gary Rowett hails Leicester’s display in valuable draw with Middlesbrough

Leicester boss Gary Rowett praised a “diligent” performance as his side earned a 1-1 Sky Bet Championship draw with Middlesbrough at the Riverside.

The struggling Foxes went ahead in the 18th minute when Divine Mukasa whipped a free-kick into the six-yard area for defender Caleb Okoli to nod home.

Boro levelled just before the break through Riley McGree, but Leicester managed to control the game in spells and claim a much-needed point in their relegation battle.

The match was Rowett’s second in charge of the team and after overseeing a 2-2 draw with Stoke on Saturday, he praised his side’s mentality.

“Very pleased with a point, it’s a difficult place to come,” Rowett said.

“I said it to Kim (Hellberg) before the game, I’ve been super impressed with the job he’s done coming from a different footballing culture into the Championship, we know how much of a test the Championship is.

“The team’s so well-coached. Causes you a lot of problems in the way that they play, really narrow positioning and they keep creating that space wide, keep trying to open you up.

“I thought we were really diligent for the majority of the game. A really diligent first half, we scored a good goal where we actually settled on the ball, get up the pitch, create and score with a well-worked free-kick.

“For us to concede the way we did with a minute to go was disappointing, we have a chance to maybe play longer, relieve the pressure and we try to find a pass through the lines, they intercept it and score exactly how we spoke about.

“Disappointing at half-time in some ways, even though they had quite a lot of control of the game. For us at the moment it’s then how do we react.

“Everyone has spoken about the mentality of the team for different reasons, but I thought we reacted really well second half.”

A draw saw Boro slip to a third straight Championship match without a win and they stay two points behind leaders Coventry, who are in action on Wednesday.

The Teessiders were beaten by the Sky Blues last Monday before being held to a goalless draw against Oxford at the Riverside on Saturday and boss Hellberg expressed his frustrations.

He said: “You always want to win, so in some ways at home it feels like a loss. In some ways coming back from behind that’s difficult in this league to get a point.

“I think the first 15 minutes was very good, I think we started the game in a very good way.

“The goal becomes a problem for us, it’s a free-kick that we don’t need to (concede). It’s good service, but it feels like from nowhere then it’s 1-0 and they got a lot of energy from it.

“You always want to win, there’s nothing to hide about that one, and you’re frustrated that we have two games at home where I think we’ve performed good enough to get more than two points from it, but the result is always fair.

“That is two points and we keep going from it.”