Middlesbrough ended a 128-year wait for their first major trophy on Sunday when they beat Bolton Wanderers 2-1 to lift the League Cup at the Millennium Stadium.
Boro made the most of a flying start after Cameroon striker Joseph-Desire Job put them ahead after only two minutes and Dutchman Boudewijn Zenden converted a controversial penalty five minutes later.
PHOTO: AP
A howler by Boro keeper Mark Schwarzer allowed Kevin Davies to score in the 21st minute for Bolton, who hit back with real conviction and might easily have equalized before the break.
PHOTO: AP
But Boro rediscovered their poise in the second half and ground out an historic victory for the northeastern club which will also book them into next season's UEFA Cup.
Victory, which could have been secured by an even bigger margin as Boro counter-attacked in the pulsating closing minutes, also made Steve McClaren the first English manager to win a domestic trophy since Brian Little steered Aston Villa to the League Cup in 1996.
"You have to give massive credit to Bolton," McClaren told Sky Sport. "It was a great game with chances at both ends."
Bolton, who knocked out holders Liverpool on their way to the final and had not won a trophy since the 1958 FA Cup, could only rue their own missed chances in an absorbing match played under a closed roof.
Boro, who had beaten premier league leaders Arsenal in the semi-finals, got off to a dream start when Job prodded the ball home with only two minutes on the clock for the quickest ever goal in a League Cup final.
Spanish playmaker Gaizka Mendieta started the move with a defense splitting pass out to Zenden, whose low cross from the left was turned in by Job's outstretched boot at the far post.
Zenden added his name to the scoresheet when Brazilian defender Emerson Thome tripped Job and the Dutchman's miss-hit spot-kick into the middle of the goal spun in off Jussi Jaaskelainen's leg.
Television replays showed that Zenden actually made a double contact with the ball as he slipped and Bolton manager Sam Allardyce said referee Mike Riley should have ruled it out.
"We think the Zenden penalty should have been an indirect free kick to us," he said.
"It sounds like sour grapes but it was a major incident in the game," he added.
Buoyed by the two quick goals, Boro were just switching to cruise control when Schwarzer's blunder hauled Bolton back into the game.
Davies, running out of both space and anyone to pass to, hit a speculative shot from outside the area -- only to see the ball squirm through the Australian's arms at the near post.
The goal brought an ailing Bolton to life and Allardyce's men could well have gone in at the break on equal terms.
Skipper Jay-Jay Okocha curled a free kick just over the bar, Per Frandsen hit the post and Youri Djorkaeff narrowly missed following up the rebound before the Frenchman had two further efforts blocked.
Boro responded by trying to hit their opponents on the break, but either lacked the killer pass to put Job through or, like Mendieta, failed to keep their shots on target.
The Spanish midfielder should certainly have put the trophy beyond Bolton's reach within minutes of the re-start. Sent through by Job, Mendieta's chip over the advancing Jaaskelainen crept just over the bar and landed on the roof of the net.
Brazilian midfielder Juninho fared no better in the closing minutes when he too lifted a breakaway effort over the top, while Mendieta and substitute Michael Ricketts both squandered glorious late chances.
By then, though, watched by a crowd of 72,000 in the high-tech Welsh superstadium, their team had done enough to earn their place in the history books of English soccer.
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