Derby draw marred by injuries

They were also dealt a hefty blow in the fixture, as an early challenge on the exciting Hassan Keita left the winger in hospital with a fractured right leg.

The poor luck quickly spread as Pickering suffered bad news of their own when former Boro skipper Tony Hackworth had to be carried off the Mill Lane pitch with what looked to be a torn achilles.

Prior to these nasty casualties, Boro had been in full flow, but the shock and the delay of Keita's leg-break seemed to flatten out their performance.

The game got away to the sharpest of starts, with Boro keen to follow on from three straight pre-season wins

It took Boro just six minutes to open their goalscoring account, with good work on the right feeding Callum Robinson in the box and he made no mistake from close range.

Keita's injury followed when he embarked upon a run that was ended by a strong challenge. The winger clearly came off worse and departed on a stretcher with his leg in a brace.

Things could have got worse for Boro when Hackworth beat converted defender Matty Bloor to the bounce, but Jordan Porter raced from his line to save.

Porter was beaten moments later, though Ryan Cooper's sweet low drive struck the foot of the post rather than nestling in the net.

The game then took a sour turn for the Pikes when Hackworth tried to push off towards the ball, but he was left in agony, being helped from the field by assistant-boss Denny Ingram and Boro physio Chris Machen.

Boro took advantage of a stunned Pikes when Robinson let fly with a deflected shot that wrong-footed Pete Lawrie and settled in the net to make it 2-0.

That should have been game over, but the Pikes still had their bite.

Porter, a bystander for long periods in the first half, soon became the busiest man on the field.

The former Halifax man made two excellent saves from Sam Calvert, but he could do little when sub Callum Richardson eased his way through the defence and finished well.

Porter was at full length to deny Richardson his second, but his scuffed clearance soon after fell straight to Ben Hirst, who cut inside and rolled home the leveller.

Another sub in Vincent Dhesi could have turned the game on its head in the final minutes, but his touch let him down and Porter scooped the ball off his toe.