Watford missed the chance to get back to winning ways as a last-gasp equaliser earned Middlesbrough a 2-2 draw at the Riverside Stadium.

After Davide Faraoni had spurned a good chance to give Watford the lead, they fell behind when Albert Adomah blasted home after being set up by a Rhys Williams back heel.

However, the Hornets were to be back on terms before the break after a superbly weighted pass from Marco Cassetti split the Boro defence and Troy Deeney duly applied the finish to get back among the goals.

There was little to separate the sides after the break but in the 73rd minute Deeney turned supplier and Fernando Forestieri produced some great footwork before slotting in Watford’s second.

That looked like it would be enough to earn the visitors their first win in five matches but it wasn’t to be as Daniel Ayala was allowed to head in an injury-time corner as the Hornets were yet again punished for their sloppiness.

There was no debut for new loan signing George Thorne, who was not involved at all, as Gianfranco Zola made three changes to the starting line-up from last weekend’s 3-0 home defeat at the hands of Leicester City.

Cassetti returned to the back three for the injured Joel Ekstrand and Faraoni and Iriney also came back into the team for, perhaps surprisingly, Ikechi Anya and former Boro loanee Josh McEachran.

Boro were also beaten in their last outing, 1-0 at Blackburn Rovers and caretaker boss Mark Venus also made three changes to his team.

In came Seb Hines, Ben Gibson and Mustapha Carayol with George Friend dropping to the bench, but Jozsef Varga and Jonathan Woodgate were not involved.

Both sides were content to keep possession in the opening stages but the Hornets had the first opening in the third minute when Cassetti switched the ball cross-field from left to right to Faraoni. He nodded the ball down and back inside to Sean Murray, who slipped Deeney in down the side of the defence but the striker was flagged offside as he fired wide of the near post.

The hosts had the first legitimate attempt two minutes later when, after Cassetti had fouled Marvin Emnes near the right side of the penalty area, Grant Leadbitter swung over the set piece and Kei Kamara headed down and wide of Manuel Almunia’s right-hand post.

Gibson was booked in the sixth minute for an off-the-ball challenge on Faraoni but the Hornets had made a decent start to the contest and they were to almost go in front in the 12th minute.

Referee Paul Tierney let play continue when a Boro defender went over the top of Deeney as both went up to contest a header and the ball broke for Lewis McGugan, who showed superb vision to hit a precision pass with the outside of his left foot into the path of Faraoni and he didn’t break stride before hitting a right-foot shot which brought a fine save out of Jason Steele.

The card count was levelled up in the 14th minute when Murray saw yellow for a foul on Carayol but soon after the Hornets had an excellent counter-attacking opportunity from a Boro corner when Murray hooked the ball out to Forestieri and he set Faraoni scampering free into the clear. The right wing-back looked set to go the whole way and try and beat Steele but, instead, he chose to try and set up McGugan on the left side of the area, only to delay his pass for a fraction too long and the chance went begging.

Gabriele Angella blocked a Kamara header from a right-sided cross at the other end but the Hornets were still looking comfortable, only to be caught out in the 24th minute when Boro took the lead.

The hosts had enjoyed a reasonable spell of possession before the ball was worked to the right-hand side and slipped in behind the Hornets to Williams, who intelligently laid it back into the path of Adomah with a back heel and he blasted a right-footed shot between Almunia and his near post to make it 1-0.

Leadbitter became the second Boro player to be booked in the 29th minute for chopping down Faraoni but three minutes later Watford were level.

Cassetti was allowed to advance towards halfway from the back and, after Forestieri had threatened to peel off and run in behind the Middlesbrough backline, the Italian dropped a lovely pass in behind to Deeney, who had pulled off his man and slipped the ball beyond Steele to make it 1-1 with his seventh of the campaign.

Having been on the receiving end of two yellow card decisions, Faraoni could have few complaints about the one he picked up in the 37th minute for a clear body check on Carayol outside the left side of the area. Leadbitter went for a goal and power from the resultant free-kick and Almunia was forced to punch the ball clear.

The next chance went the visitors’ way when another precise pass from McGugan put Daniel Pudil away into space as he attacked the left side of the penalty area but a poor touch took him wider than he would have wanted and his shot went the wrong side of Steele’s right-hand upright.

Deeney had already shown what he could achieve when pulling off Middlesbrough’s relatively high central defensive pairing and a fine pass from Lloyd Doyley gave the Hornets’ scorer another opportunity in the 43rd minute, but after a superb first touch his attempted finish lacked any power.

Almunia had to dive to his left to grab a half-volley from Kamara soon after following an Emnes centre from the left as the opening period ended with honours even.

However, the half ended with Doyley limping very slowly from the pitch clutching his right hamstring and clearly in no position to continue after the break and his place was taken by Essaid Belkalem at the start of the second half.

Richard Smallwood fired the first opening after the interval over the top from the edge of the area as the hosts made the better start after the resumption.

Watford soon started to settle down though, and a neat build-up ended with Murray shooting well wide from the right side of the area, partly because he lacked any options inside to look to pass instead.

Steele had to make his first save of the second half in the 58th minute when he went to ground to hold a Forestieri shot from around 20 yards before McGugan was booked for a foul on Smallwood. From the resultant free-kick, Murray had to be alert to prevent Adomah from latching on to a loose ball in the area.

The hosts then appealed for a penalty when the ball seemed to strike Angella’s hand but the referee waved them away as the centre-half’s arms were by his side and had not moved.

Deeney showed good determination to win possession in the 64th minute but dragged his shot wide before Adomah sent a header over at the other end. Leadbitter also fired wired of the target as both sides continued to struggle to get the upper hand.

Zola decided to make a second change midway through the second half when Iriney made way for McEachran but as the game threatened to continue to drift, Watford got their noses in front in the 73rd minute.

Deeney started things moving with the pass after spotting Forestieri breaking forward but Ayala still looked favourite to win the ball. However, a lapse from the Boro centre-half let in the Argentine, who then showed superb footwork to get the ball back on to his left foot before slipping it past the advancing Steele to make it 2-1.

Zola made his final substitution with 13 minutes remaining when Cristian Battocchio replaced McGugan and Venus followed suit with a double change as Jacob Butterfield and Andy Halliday replaced Emnes and Carayol.

Indeed, Halliday almost had a great chance with his first touch as he sought to latch on to a through ball and dink it beyond Almunia but the Hornets keeper was alert to the danger and was quickly off his line to gather.

Generally though, Boro were increasingly desperate as the game moved into the final ten minutes, becoming sloppy and conceding free-kicks, one of which led to Forestieri firing over from distance.

However, the hosts still posed a threat and with five minutes remaining the ball was lifted into the box, headed back across goal and Almunia did well to get his body in the way of Kamara’s close-range header.

The Watford keeper also did well to hold on to a decently struck Leadbitter shot before Deeney ended an attempted run from Adomah and the yellow card inevitably followed.

Friend replaced Hines as what turned out to be four minutes of injury-time beckoned – but they were four minutes in which the Hornets were unable to hold out after conceding a corner.

The visitors were unable to deal with the danger when the ball was played in from the left and Ayala got up to head past Almunia and earn his side a last-gasp point.

Middlesbrough: Steele; Williams, Hines (Friend 88), Ayala, Gibson; Adomah, Leadbitter, Smallwood, Carayol (Halliday 78); Emnes (Butterfield 78), Kamara. Not used: Leutwiler, Richardson, Jutkiewicz, Whitehead.

Watford: Almunia; Doyley (Belkalem 46), Angella, Cassetti; Faraoni, Murray, Iriney (McEachran 68), McGugan (Battocchio 77), Pudil; Forestieri, Deeney. Not used: Bond, Acuna, Fabbrini, Anya.

Bookings: Gibson for a foul on Faraoni (6); Murray for a foul on Carayol (14); Leadbitter for a foul on Faraoni (29); Faraoni for a foul on Carayol (37); McGugan for a foul on Smallwood (61); Deeney for a foul on Adomah (87).

Attendance: 14,344 (625 away).

Referee: Paul Tierney.

Read Zola's views on the match here.