Marcus Forss reacts to a missed chance as Middlesbrough blow their chance to claim a play-off spot with two games to go
Sheffield Wednesday ended their run of five straight home defeats with a win that cost Middlesbrough a place in the Championship top six.
Michael Carrick's side looked set to move into the play-off places with two games to go as they led through an early Finn Azaz goal and with rivals Coventry City and Bristol City both losing.
The game swung on Tommy Conway's second missed penalty of the season, with Owls goalkeeper Pierce Charles saving the spot kick before blocking the striker's follow-up attempt.
Wednesday, who had gone six games without a win and whose previous home victory had been on New Year's Day, fought back well in the second half as Josh Windass equalised and Anthony Musaba bundled in a late winner.
The hosts have been sliding into crisis in recent months, with unhappy fans angry with owner Dejphon Chansiri for failing to sell the club, while manager Danny Rohl called out some of his players after Friday's defeat at Stoke City.
With nothing left to play for, they showed plenty of spirit to come from behind against a Boro side who lost their way after dominating the early stages but finding Charles in resilient mood.
Azaz settled the away fans after 11 minutes as he finished a slick move, as Conway laid the ball to Hayden Hackney, who fed the Republic of Ireland international. He smartly tucked the ball past goalkeeper Charles with the outside of his foot for his 12th goal of the season.
It looked like Wednesday were heading for a sixth consecutive home defeat when Hackney was fouled by Svante Ingellson and referee Bobby Madley pointed to the spot.
Charles had different ideas. The keeper had seen his mistake hand Stoke their second goal in Friday's 2-0 away defeat, but he made amends by beating out Conway's spot kick and jumping to his feet to stop the striker's second attempt, while Azaz's attempt to net that rebound was blocked.
Boro went into their shell after that, as Windass brought a fine save from Mark Travers and then fired another shot across the face of goal, but Charles proved the saviour again as he superbly saved Marcus Forss' shot to keep his side in the game.
Wednesday, with Barry Bannan back in the team, drove forward after the break, and after Travers had saved with his feet from Windass, the forward scored the leveller.
Callum Patterson's cross was headed against the post by Michael Smith, but when Musaba retrieved the ball and laid it back for Ingelsson, his mishit shot was turned in at the far post by Windass.
Gabriel Otegbayo somehow headed wide as Wednesday went for the three points against a curiously ive Boro side, but Musaba capped a fine impact by grabbing the winner. He was in the right spot as Patterson's dangerous cross saw three defenders falling over the ball to allow the sub to knock it over the line from close range.
Boro fluffed one more golden opportunity to grab a point as man of the match Charles heroically blocked Delano Burgzorg's shot at close quarters and then Conway, with the goal at his mercy, smashed his shot against the underside of the bar.
Sheffield Wednesday boss Danny Rohl speaking to BBC Radio Sheffield:
"Congratulations to my team, to my players; outstanding job, outstanding energy level, a lot of good things they did today.
"I said this 20 minutes before the end to my coaches, we deserve more than just one point and then the goal was coming. My players should take all the flowers today because they deserved it.
"Today we found a fantastic balance between keeping the ball and attacking the last line. I saw a lot of clips of how we could attack them, especially behind the full-backs and my players did a fantastic job.
"You need this player and also in this division, you need momentum, and I think everybody in the stadium felt today that the momentum could be on our side - and we played really nice football."
Middlesbrough boss Michael Carrick speaking to BBC Radio Tees:
"In the end, it hasn't changed a lot of what the next two games are going to bring but certainly today, we could have won the game and everyone else could have won their games and we'd be in the same situation.
"If we won the game, we'd be in a better situation. I'm not denying that.
"For our mindset, we've got to learn about managing our games better in the thick of it and managing the space on the pitch and being more compact as a team.
"Disappointed with today but the season is still alive."
