Darius Henderson came off the bench to earn Nottingham Forest a 1-1 draw with Middlesbrough at the Riverside Stadium on Tuesday night.

Forest created a good opportunity to open the scoring in the early stages when Djamel Abdoun's corner reached Jamaal Lascelles, who failed to hit the target with his header at the back post.

Lascelles played a key role in ensuring that his side remained on level terms just a few moments later, clearing Mustapha Carayol's header off the line.

Good chances for either side in the opening few minutes proved to be the closest there would be to a goal in the first half as Simon Cox's header straight at Dimitrios Konstantopoulos was the only other time that Forest managed to threaten before the break.

Middlesbrough broke the deadlock in the 53rd minute thanks to a quick counter-attacking move which ended with Albert Adomah picking out Carayol, who curled an emphatic finish past Karl Darlow.

Carayol could have doubled his side's lead with just under 20 minutes remaining but his curled effort missed the post by only a few inches.

Henderson was sent on as Forest looked to claim something from the game, and the change made the difference in the 80th minute when the striker lost his marker to convert an Andy Reid cross from close range.

Middlesbrough were inches away from regaining the lead in the closing stages but Danny Graham was left frustrated when his effort from six yards out struck the post.