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Football

Middlesbrough

vs Wrexham. Sky Bet Championship.

3: 00pm, Saturday 25th October 2025.

Riverside Stadium Attendance: Attendance30, 046.

Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship match between Middlesbrough and Wrexham at the Riverside Stadium on Saturday; Hayden Hackney scores late header as Rob Edwards' Boro hit back to earn a point. Saturday 25 October 2025 18: 37, UK Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player 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. 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.

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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. 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. Middlesbrough's Rob Edwards: "I just think first half we had a lot of the ball without doing too much with it. The pattern of the game didn't change too much, it was just our intensity. That was the main thing that changed. "In the end it was probably the best we were going to get. You felt something was going to come after the equaliser but it wasn't to be. "I have never done that before (made four changes at half-time). I felt like we needed an injection, the whole place. The first half is on me, we lacked something, intensity, a little lethargic, and we were frustrating, slow. I didn't like it, I felt changes were necessary. "We have to give Wrexham credit because they played well and we turned the ball over so much in the first half, but we got something. " Wrexham's Phil Parkinson: "I am very pleased with the performance, obviously disappointed not to get three points. "We have executed exactly what we asked the lads to do. We spoke to the lads before the game not to nullify, we wanted to come here to play. "Both sides of the game were decent. We got the goal and had another good chance first half. Second half Kieffer has had that amazing chance to kill the game off and it hits the bar. "The goal they scored, it's one we should have dealt with better. But I don't want to talk too much about that because as a group we are growing in belief game by game. "Middlesbrough had thrown caution to the wind, made four subs at half-time. I felt the game was there to kill off. They have some class players, we know that, but I felt it was there for us to take the game away from them. The lads gave us everything. " The £250, 000 is up for grabs with Super 6, and as always it is completely free to play. Entries by 3pm Saturday.

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