Danny Rohl hailed the “outstanding” resilience of his Sheffield Wednesday side after the Owls battled back from 3-0 down at half-time to earn a 3-3 Championship draw at 10-man Middlesbrough.
Wednesday, who have lost just one of their last eight games, have now picked up 15 points from losing positions this season, more than any other team in the English second tier.
Boro looked to be cruising to victory at the Riverside after Ben Doak’s opener and a double from Finn Azaz put the home side in control.
But Michael Carrick’s men had their lead wiped out after a 16-minute collapse, with defender Rav Van Den Berg sent off after picking up his second yellow card.
Substitute Svante Ingelsson gave the Owls hope, two minutes after the break, before goals from Josh Windass and Yan Valery hauled Wednesday level.
Boss Rohl said: “We saw what it means to play against a strong and very good team in this league in the first half and that’s why they are in the top six.
“In the second half you saw two things: that we can change some things at half-time with subs and the tactical side, and the biggest thing is, you saw in the second half how strong the belief is in the group.
“We’ve taken 15 points from behind, I think this is outstanding, I’m very proud of my team. They never give up, everybody helped, everybody is important for this group. To take a point here against a very strong side, it’s outstanding.”
Having levelled just after the hour mark, Rohl insisted there was no aspect of disappointment, having not gone on to pick up all three points.
He said: “Not one minute. After the red card, Boro were more about the counter-attack and waiting for the mistake and they have the quality.
“They don’t need so many chances, they’re very clinical up front.
“Of course we had some moments where we could score for 4-3 but all in all, we should be very happy to come back from 3-0 down.”
Boro have now dropped out of the play-off places and have won just one of their last five.
Carrick said: “It’s worse than frustrating. To have so much control and to be in such a good position, we shouldn’t have allowed it to unravel so quickly and to flip like it did.
“The first half, we won’t take the positives we should because of the result. It feels like we’ve come away with nothing. It’s not a great day.
“We need to find a consistent level of performance. You have to see it through. We keep making it more difficult for ourselves than we should.
“The sending off I don’t agree with at all but to have the game flip like that, we can’t accept that.”
