A well drilled and attackminded Boro had looked on course for three points after Scott McDonald struck six minutes after half-time. But the visitors grabbing a fortuitous leveller through Dele Adebola in the second minute of added time to improve their promotion chances.
It left Mowbray reflecting on what might have been had they not conceded another late goal at the Riverside.
It was a very cruel result, we have lost a lot of late goals, too many, said Mowbray. We deserved to win the match, there was only one keeper working tonight and it wasn't Jason Steele.
Better teams than us have lost goals in the last few minutes.
One defender tried to play offside in his own six yard box, which is frustrating but I talked to them about the positives, that is what we require week in and week out.
We have to try to be competitive at the end of the table where Forest are at. There was no gulf in class here.
Middlesbrough had great chances to score before and after McDonald's opener and Forest manager Billy Davies whose side are three points off an automatic promotion spot told Mowbray that Forest should have lost.
And the Middlesbrough boss can be satisfied by the way his defence performed.
His side head to Reading on Saturday with Mowbray expecting his squad to be encouraged rather than despondent.
The lads know they did alright,
said Mowbray. Sometimes when you have lost a late goal they can be distraught, but they did alright against a team striving to get in the top two.
Forest are consistently in and around the top end. They are a balanced squad.
Forest are at the top end of the table and they have the ability of scoring late goals.
It was a performance full of energy and desire from us to get a result.
While we are all disappointed we will take the positives out of the energy and desire. We needed that second goal, I have always said we have to get that, and it proved crucial.
Forest boss Davies, who took charge of his 100th league game for the club, still thinks an automatic promotion spot might be too much for his team.
He said: We didn't deserve it, I said that to Tony. The home team were better.
But in the last few weeks we have not got a break and we did here.
My opinion is that we are a good bet for a play-off place, that's my opinion. Compare our squad with the others around us and we are a good bet for the play-offs.
Source: Northern Echo
Source: Northern Echo