THE door has opened for the rest of chasing pack to close the gap on the Championship’s top two after a night when it proved difficult to separate Middlesbrough and Leeds United on the pitch as well as in the standings.

With both teams sitting level on points at the top of the table, neither side was able to come up with the killer blow that would have earned the advantage in the promotion race – even if it was a point that will be welcomed by both Tony Pulis and Marcelo Bielsa.

In the end Middlesbrough might count themselves unlucky not to have returned up the A1 with maximum points, having delivered a defensive masterclass to lay the foundations for a second half when they did more of the pressing.

Boro certainly had their moments to defeat an energetic and attack-minded Leeds side, which certainly resembles a team with the talent to stay in the mix for a top two spot this season under Bielsa. The two teams are four points clear of Bolton in third.

But after a day when the end of the loan window, meaning no more chances to sign players until January, signalled no progress in the hunt for a winger and the retention of Martin Braithwaite, this was a night for Middlesbrough to be satisfied.

Not since 2011 have Middlesbrough won at Elland Road, and this was only the second draw of those six matches which have ended in defeat on five occasions.

The belief that they could get something was there from the first whistle, even if they had to defend more than they would have liked in the first half in particular.

It was certainly not a goalless draw lacking goalscoring opportunities, while it was also one that demanded focus and commitment, plus there was the bite in front of a packed Elland Road that heralded four cautions each for each side and that could have been more.

Despite Pulis’ frustrations on the transfer front in the opening month, August could not have gone much better in terms of results. Four wins in a row, after the opening weekend draw at Millwall, had only been matched by their counterparts from west Yorkshire.

Preparations had been slightly dented by the push from Braithwaite to seal a move to Spain, so while the presence of him on the bench was a little bonus to fans because he wasn’t leaving, it also meant a change to the starting line-up.

For such a decent game at this early stage of the season, the focus was on the man, or men, asked to support lone striker Britt Assombalonga and whether they could deliver.

Stewart Downing, a man of plenty experience, had been expected to play the No 10 role, but instead he operated on the right of a four mainly.

If anyone, Jonny Howson, on the left of a more central three, tended to get up with Assombalonga the most and a curling effort from him forced Bailey Peacock-Farrell into a strong save midway through the first half.

Seconds after that Assombalonga headed over from the corner, while in the opening exchanges of the game Aden Flint came within inches of turning a Downing corner in – and yet it didn’t feel like the game had started like that at all.

Middlesbrough spent the majority of the period in between those incidents having to hurry the white shirts into passes because Marcelo Bielsa had clearly not changed his attacking philosophy for this one.

Yet while Samuel Saiz, Kalvin Phillips, Ezgjan Alioski and Jack Harrison buzzed around a lot and linked up play well, they struggled to create openings for themselves or for striker Kemar Roofe to test Darren Randolph in the Middlesbrough goal.

When Leeds did manage to beat Randolph, Adam Clayton was on hand just after the half hour to clear off the line when Luke Ayling’s downward header looked like it would find the bottom corner.

There were also a couple of penalty claims waved away at both ends, while Darlington-born Peacock-Farrell, who was a youth player at Boro before joining Leeds in 2013, had to show strong hands and tipped a header over the bar from Daniel Ayala.

Middlesbrough were caught out by Leeds’ energy in the final third last year but this was a more organised display from Pulis’ team, which regularly managed to get in the way of the final ball to frustrate the home side.

Pulis cut a frustrated figure often in his technical area, mainly at some of the decisions that went against his team. Similarly, though, Leeds had just as much to complain about, and a lack of consistency meant referee Tim Robinson lost some of the control he had earlier.

From one of the free-kicks he awarded just before the hour when Assombalonga was brought down near the corner flag, Downing’s delivery was met by the head of Ayala after a bout of push and shove – only for the ball to drop the wrong side of the far post.

The longer the game went on the more errors appeared, with even seemingly routine passes not finding intended targets at times. Those only added to the tension, though, as both sets of fans waited for a breakthrough.

Downing struck 25-yard drive over the bar at one end but Leeds constantly found the wall of red shirts at the opposite end difficult impossible to break down, increasing the chances of Middlesbrough returning home with something.

There were another two headers from Ayala, from Besic’s free-kick, that narrowly missed the target again, while Randolph’s goal didn’t really come under threat until the dying seconds when he had to hold a Barry Douglas free-kick.

As soon as he held that, the whistle went when there was a sense that both sets of players and fans were comfortable with the outcome.