2004 Football League Cup Final

The 2004 Football League Cup Final (known as theCarling Cup final for sponsorship reasons) was a foot-ball match that took place on 29 February 2004 at theMillennium Stadium, Cardiff. It was the final match ofthe 2003–04 Football League Cup, the 44th edition ofthe Football League Cup, a competition for the 92 teamsin the Premier League and The Football League.It was contested between Premier League sides BoltonWanderers and Middlesbrough, both of whom had neverwon in their previous appearances in the final. Bolton’srun to the final included a win away to holders Liverpoolin the fourth round, while requiring extra time againstSouthampton in the next round and losing the secondleg of the semi-final against Aston Villa. Middlesbroughneeded extra time against lowly Brighton & Hove Al-bion in their first game, and later advanced on penaltyshootouts against top-flight Everton and Tottenham Hot-spur; they then won home and away against league leadersArsenal in the semi-finals.Middlesbrough scored two goals in the first seven min-utes, from Joseph-Désiré Job and a Boudewijn Zendenpenalty. Kevin Davies got a goal back in the first halfafter an error by Boro goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer, butMiddlesbrough kept the score at 2–1 for their first majortrophy. In doing so, they qualified for the 2004–05UEFACup, their first European competition.

1 Background

Bolton were playing in their second League Cup Final,having lost the 1995 edition 2–1 to Liverpool. Middles-brough too had never previously won the competition: in1997 they lost the final after extra time in a replay againstLeicester City, and a year later they lost 2–0 to Chelsea af-ter extra time.[2] In 1997, they also lost the FACup final toChelsea, and were relegated from the Premier League.[3]Although Middlesbrough, founded in 1876, were with-out a major trophy, Bolton had 4 FA Cups from 7 finalsbetween 1894 and 1958.[4]

Bolton and Middlesbrough had already met once in theleague season, at the former’s Reebok Stadium on 13September 2003. The hosts won 2–0 with goals by BrunoN'Gotty and Kevin Davies in each half for a first victoryof the campaign.[5]

2 Route to the Final

2.1 Bolton

As a Premier League team, Bolton began in the secondround, hostingWalsall of the First Division at the ReebokStadium. They won 3–1 with two goals – one a penaltykick – by Brazilian debutant Mário Jardel.[6] In the nextround on 28 October, they again hosted a second-tierteam, this time Gillingham, and won 2–0 with goals byStelios Giannakopoulos and Henrik Pedersen, in front ofa notably low crowd of 5,258.[7]

In the fourth round, Bolton had their first trip, and theirfirst game against top-flight opposition, facing Liverpoolat Anfield on 3 December. Jardel scored the first goalwithin five minutes, with Danny Murphy equalising with20 minutes remaining. Youri Djorkaeff would have putBolton back into the lead, but referee Mike Riley disal-lowed it for an earlier handball; they scored minutes laterfrom Jay-Jay Okocha's free kick. Liverpool got a sec-ond equaliser from a 25-yard Vladimír Šmicer strike, butwith a minute remaining Salif Diao fouled Kevin Daviesin the penalty area and Djorkaeff sent the resulting spot-kick past Liverpool goalkeeper Jerzy Dudek to win thegame.[8] Thirteen days later, in extra time at home to thePremier League’s Southampton, Pedersen volleyed theonly goal with five minutes remaining.[9]

On 21 January 2004, Bolton hosted Aston Villa in thefirst leg of an all-Premier League semi-final. Okocha gavethem the lead with a second-minute free kick, and furtherstrikes from Kevin Nolan and Stelios gave them a 3–0lead after 17 minutes, with Juan Pablo Ángel getting oneback for the visitors soon after. Ángel got another goalin the second half, before N'Gotty’s header and a secondOkocha free kick gave Bolton a 5–2 victory.[10] Six dayslater in the second leg at Villa Park, Bolton lost 2–0 toa Villa team who had Gavin McCann sent off in the firsthalf, but advanced to the final 5–4 on aggregate.[11]

2.2 Middlesbrough

Middlesbrough, also of the Premier League, began thecompetition in the second round by hosting Brighton &Hove Albion at the Riverside Stadium, and defeated theSecond Division team 1–0 with a goal from MalcolmChristie at the start of extra time.[12] In the next round,they travelled to Wigan Athletic of the First Division andwon 2–1 with Massimo Maccarone and Gaizka Mendi-

1

2 4 POST-MATCH

eta's first goals of the season, despite the hosts at theJJB Stadium scoring a late free kick through JimmyBullard.[13]

They met their first top-flight opposition in the fourthround, hosting Everton. After 120 goalless minutes, thematch went to a penalty shootout in which Mendietascored the winner after Middlesbrough goalkeeper MarkSchwarzer saved from Leon Osman.[14] The quarter-finalat another Premier League team, Tottenham Hotspur,also went to a shootout. Darren Anderton scored forthe hosts within 63 seconds, the first goal Boro con-ceded for over 11 hours. With four minutes to play,Middlesbrough striker Michael Ricketts equalised aftera cross from George Boateng. The shootout, in whichSchwarzer denied Mauricio Taricco and Kasey Kellerblocked from Mendieta, went to sudden death, in whichMiddlesbrough’s goalkeeper saved from Gus Poyet andFranck Queudrue scored Boro’s winner.[15]

In the semi-finals, Boro faced Arsenal, the leaders andeventual unbeaten champions of the Premier Leagueseason. In the first leg at Highbury on 20 January2004, Queudrue exploited a mistake by Arsenal defenderMartin Keown and passed toMendieta, who then assistedJuninho for the only goal of the game.[16] On 3 Febru-ary, Boro hosted Arsenal in the second leg; Keown wassent off at the end of the first half for a professional foulon Maccarone. In the second half, Boudewijn Zendenput Middlesbrough ahead and Edu equalised. With fiveminutes remaining, Arsenal’s José Antonio Reyes scoredan own goal by deflecting Stuart Parnaby's shot, makingMiddlesbrough advance to the final 3–1 on aggregate.[17]

3 Match

3.1 Pre-match

Bolton manager Sam Allardyce, who was building a rep-utation for signing unwanted foreign veterans such asN'Gotty, Djorkaeff and Iván Campo, predicted that a winwould help him sign more players in the summer. How-ever, he thought that success would also lead his 13 play-ers who would be out of contract, to demand more moneyfor a renewal.[18]

On-loan Middlesbrough right-back Danny Mills, a self-acknowledged “hate figure” from opposition fans due tohis physical style of play, declared that he would ignoreany abuse from Bolton fans.[19]

3.2 Summary

Middlesbrough manager SteveMcClaren had not even satdown when his team took the lead.[20] Mendieta’s passlet Zenden run down the left wing and cross for strikerJoseph-Désiré Job to putMiddlesbrough ahead in the sec-ond minute. [20] It was the fastest goal scored in a final,

Boudewijn Zenden (pictured playing for Liverpool in 2005) as-sisted Middlesbrough’s first goal and scored their second. Hereceived the Alan Hardaker Trophy for the final’s man of thematch.

a record broken the following year by Liverpool’s JohnArne Riise.[21]

After Job’s early goal, Bolton went on the attack, withDjorkaeff forcing Schwarzer to make a near-post save.[20]In the seventh minute however, Middlesbrough won apenalty when Job was tripped in the Bolton box byEmerson Thome, under “minimal contact”.[20] Zendenstepped up to take the spot kick and beat Bolton goal-keeper Jussi Jääskeläinen, despite slipping and the goal-keeper’s foot touching the ball.[20] Later, Thome nearlyscored an own goal from Juninho’s cross.[20]

Davies scored for Bolton on 21 minutes when an error byMiddlesbrough goalkeeper Schwarzer allowed his shot togo inside his near post. Bolton continued to attack, andSchwarzer made a double save from winger Per Frandsenand Djorkaeff. The latter had two more chances soon af-ter, missing the target with the first. Boro pleaded for asecond penalty when Nicky Hunt pulled Job, but refereeRiley did not give it.[20]

The second half had fewer incidents.[20] Schwarzer saveda header from Nolan, while Juninho had two opportu-nities for Middlesbrough.[20] In the final few minutes,Thome made a crucial block against Mendieta, and at theother side of the pitch Ugo Ehiogu did the same to thwartStelios.[20]

3.3 Match details

4 Post-match

Winning manager McClaren called the victory a “greatreward” for Middlesbrough’s players, managers and

3

Middlesbrough goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer was praised by hismanager for recovering from an error.

chairman Steve Gibson.[22] Captain Gareth Southgatealso dedicated the win to the fans and Gibson, calling thechairman “the biggest fan we've got”.[22] Gibson himselfcalled the win “128 years in the making” and predictedthe team would “kick on” from it.[22]

McClaren praised his goalkeeper Schwarzer for recover-ing from his error that allowed Bolton’s goal, in order tomake saves that won the match.[22] He also said that theteam should not become carried away by their qualifica-tion for Europe, and instead concentrate on the upcominggame against Birmingham City.[22]

By winning the final, Middlesbrough qualified for thefollowing season’s UEFA Cup, their first Europeancompetition.[23] They beat Baník Ostrava in the firstround and came first in their group featuring Villarreal,Partizan, Lazio and Egaleo.[24] They then defeatedGrazerAK in the third round before being eliminated bySporting.[25]

Columnist Henry Winter The Daily Telegraph wrote thatit was the best League Cup Final since Luton Townbeat Arsenal in 1988.[26] He praised all four of Middles-brough’s back line for their “alert defending”, and notedthe hard work in midfield by Boateng that allowed Zen-den, Juninho and Mendieta to create chances.[26] He alsolauded Bolton’s fans and the efforts of Okocha, Djorkaeffand Davies, while noting how Bolton’s Campo was effec-tive despite “the odd pantomime dive".[26] Alan Smith ofthe same newspaper opined that 33-year-old Southgatewas the most deserving winner, as reward for his consis-tency since arriving in an “average” Boro side in 2001.Southgate’s only other medal had come in the same com-petition for Aston Villa eight years prior.[27]

In June 2013, Juninho said that winning the League Cupwith Middlesbrough was better than when he won theFIFA World Cup with Brazil in 2002.[28]

5 References[1] “Alan Hardaker Trophy Winners”. The Football League.

26 February 2012. Retrieved 8 May 2012.

[2] “England - Football League Cup Finals”. RSSSF. Re-trieved 1 April 2016.

[3] Saleem, Omar (31 July 2004). “How Middlesbrough’smid-1990s transfers changed English football”. BBCSport. Retrieved 1 April 2016.

[4] “England FA Challenge Cup Finals”. RSSSF. Retrieved1 April 2016.

[5] “Bolton seal first win”. BBC Sport. 13 September 2003.Retrieved 1 April 2016.

[6] “Bolton 3-1 Walsall”. BBC Sport. 24 September 2003.Retrieved 1 April 2016.

[7] “Bolton 2-0 Gillingham”. BBC Sport. 28 October 2003.Retrieved 1 April 2016.

[8] “Bolton stun Liverpool”. BBC Sport. 3 December 2003.Retrieved 1 April 2016.

[9] “Bolton see off Saints”. BBC Sport. 16 December 2003.Retrieved 1 April 2016.

[10] “Bolton 5-2 Aston Villa”. BBC Sport. 21 January 2004.Retrieved 1 April 2016.

[11] “Aston Villa 2-0 Bolton”. BBC Sport. 27 January 2004.Retrieved 1 April 2016.

[12] “Middlesbrough 1-0 Brighton”. BBC Sport. 24 Septem-ber 2003. Retrieved 1 April 2016.

[13] “Wigan 1-2 Middlesbrough”. BBC Sport. 28 October2003. Retrieved 1 April 2016.

[14] “Boro through on penalties”. BBC Sport. 3 December2003. Retrieved 1 April 2016.

[15] “Spurs suffer penalty agony”. BBC Sport. 17 December2003. Retrieved 1 April 2016.

[16] “Arsenal 0-1 Middlesbrough”. BBC Sport. 20 January2004. Retrieved 1 April 2016.

[17] “Middlesbrough 2-1 Arsenal”. BBC Sport. 3 February2004. Retrieved 1 April 2016.

[18] Johnson, William (28 February 2004). “Djorkaeff de-lighted”. The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 1 April 2016.

[19] “Hate figure loves to win”. The Daily Telegraph. Re-trieved 1 April 2016.

[20] “Boro lift Carling Cup”. BBC Sport. 29 February 2004.Retrieved 1 April 2016.

[21] “Stoke City: Middlesbrough in profile”. Stoke Sentinel. 30August 2008. Retrieved 1 April 2016.

[22] “McClaren praises Schwarzer”. BBC Sport. 29 February2004. Retrieved 1 April 2016.

4 5 REFERENCES

[23] “Middlesbrough 3-0 Banik O”. BBC Sport. 16 September2004. Retrieved 1 April 2016.

[24] “Boro 3-0 P Belgrade”. BBC Sport. 15 December 2004.Retrieved 1 April 2016.

[25] “Sporting 1-0 M'brough (Agg: 4-2)". BBC Sport. 17March 2005. Retrieved 1 April 2016.

[26] Winter, Henry (1 March 2004). “Middlesbrough’s time toparty”. The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 1 April 2016.

[27] Smith, Alan (1 March 2004). “Southgate gets due rewardfor years of dedication”. The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved1 April 2016.

[28] Oliver-Gaz, George (1 July 2013). “Five reasons why theLeague Cup is better than the World Cup”. Gazette Live.Retrieved 1 April 2016.

5

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