Michael Carrick on a 'special night' for Middlesbrough, who defied the odds after being without 13 players for most of their EFL Cup semi-final first leg against Chelsea

Before the game, Boro were without 11 first-teamers. After 20 minutes, the injury count had extended to 13 with Emmanuel Latte Lath and Alex Bangura exiting the fray with issues.

Championship side Boro did not panic and the only goal of the game came from midfielder Hayden Hackney, a late substitute for Scunthorpe United in their League Two fixture at Salford City, a 5-1 loss, on the previous occasion that Boro faced Chelsea in an FA Cup tie less than two years ago in March 2022.

The Teessiders, aiming to become the first side from the EFL to reach a League Cup final since Bradford City in 2013, will take a narrow advantage to Stamford Bridge in a fortnight’s time for the pivotal second leg after ending a nine-match losing sequence to bogey side Chelsea, who had not even conceded so much as a goal in any of those victories.

Carrick, whose side also earned praise for their weekend performance in their unlucky 1-0 home loss to Aston Villa in the FA Cup, said: “Listen, it was very special. There’s two sides tonight. There’s the game and what we had to do through and suffer a little bit to find a way to win and there’s obviously another game.

"But I have to credit the players and celebrate their performance, really. It’s not easy at all to pick your team like that, with the quality they have got and suffer the kind of injuries we had early on when we had enough injuries to start with.

"It was a really special night with Hayden’s goal. It was such a good night and we have to take that as a one-off to be honest.

"The second (leg) is a whole new ball game and we know what we are walking into and the challenges we face. Have we got an advantage or not at this stage? You could argue maybe not because we know it’s going to be tough down there.”

Reserving praise for Hackney, who justified his reputation as one of the best young players in the EFL, on a night when he pitted his wits against two £100m plus midfielders in Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez, Carrick said: "Honestly, it couldn’t happen to a nicer lad.

"He’s what you could ever hope for in a player in terms of him being humble, hard-working and hugely talented. He’s great to work with. He had been injured for a few weeks and this was the target really.”

On the subject of more unwanted injury issues, the Boro chief, who was provided succour at least with Lewis O’Brien returning to the bench after a lengthy injury absence, added: "It is not ideal and you cannot plan for that.

"Emmanuel Latte Lath had a decent chance as he got injured and it is one of those.

"It was like for like substitutions in many ways, Josh Coburn and Matt Clarke settled into the game.

"They did not lose rhythm and the way they [players] stuck together as a squad was special and made me so proud to see them scrambling. Bodies were everywhere at the end - it was a great feeling and I am really proud."

Chelsea boasted an unbeaten 28-match sequence against lower-division opponents in cup competitions, but paid the price for a lack of clinical edge in front of goal and some poor defending ahead of Hackney’s strike.

Blues chief Mauricio Pochettino said: “We made some mistakes in the first half, were punished and had some big chances.

"In the second half, we dominated, but did not create enough chances. In two weeks, in the second tie, we have to be positive.

"We conceded a goal from our mistake. We created enough chances to score and draw in the end and after 90 minutes, we were the better side, but if you don’t score goals, you don’t win.

"Credit to Middlesbrough, they played on counter-attack, created some chances and they scored.”