Middlesbrough 1 Chelsea 0: The perfect birthday present for Steve Gibson as Boro end Blues hoodoo

Chelsea have provided the opposition during some landmark games in his lengthy tenure at his hometown club, which have provided good and not so good memories, mostly the latter unfortunately.

The West Londoners beat Boro in Wembley finals in 1997 and 1998 - not to mention in 1990 before Gibson’s chairmanship began - and they came into this game on the back of a nine-match winning streak against Boro, who had not so much as managed to score a goal in any of those meetings.

Gibson - mastermind of the club’s Riverside Revolution in the nineties - had a couple of choice memories to treasure at least from yesterday year.

Chelsea were the opponents in the first ever competitive game at the stadium, a 2-0 win for the hosts in August 1995, while in February 2006, Boro became just the second top-flight side to beat the Blues in 2005-06 en route to Jose Mourinho’s side sauntering to a second successive title.

How Gibson would have relished a positive result against the Londoners, having let rip in the club’s direction in early 2022 ahead of their previous cup meeting when he said: ‘Chelsea and sporting integrity do not belong in the same sentence’ after the Londoners requested that the tie should be played behind closed doors after the club’s assets were frozen after Roman Abramovich was sanctioned, preventing them from selling tickets.

For the Teessider, this was the perfect ten. The sight of one of the club’s own in Hayden Hackney - nicknamed the ‘Redcar Iniesta’ by his adoring public - breaking Boro’s epic goal drought against the visitors to put them in the lead on 36 minutes, will have represented a proud moment as the Riverside rocked.

It was another addition to the scrapbook for Hackney, going nowhere until the arrival of Michael Carrick. He captained his boyhood club against Aston Villa on Saturday and here he had something else to remember.

Hackney’s strike was the highlight of a pulsating tie. Boro’s absentee count may well be into double figures, with Emmanuel Latte-Lath and Alex Bangura picking up issues in the opening 20 minutes here, but what Carrick’s side do have is a playing identity, refusal to panic and a spirit, which was shown here. They have got something.

And they also have a first leg lead and something to defend at the Bridge in a fortnight’s time and they would have certainly taken that as they aim to be the first EFL side to reach the League Cup final since Bradford City in 2013.

Mauricio Pochettino had warned his side - the youngest in the Premier League - to be ‘clever’ in their work with VAR not in operation at the Riverside.

Giving an early incident which could well have seen Boro awarded a penalty if technology was being utilised, he was probably thankful it wasn’t.

Setting the tone for his own tough half, Levi Colwill’s early defensive header was weak. Latte Lath was on it in a flash, with Axel Disasi spotting the danger on the cover and eventually challenging the striker in the box, but with a risky tackle which did not get the ball.

The consequences extended beyond Boro missing out on a potential penalty, when Latte Lath, who got a half-contact and a weak shot in, injured himself following Disasi’s intervention. He would soon exit the fray after momentarily playing on in discomfort.

Matters were compounded for Boro when Bangura became their second injury departure on 20 minutes - hobbling off after injuring himself in challenging danger man Noni Madueke.

But after that, the first-half breaks definitely belonged to the hosts, who switched from a 3-5-2 back to a 4-2-3-1 after Bangura exited.

While Madueke caused bother down the right, it was a half in which Palmer, Chelsea’s class player so far this season, could have secured rights to the matchball, but lacked the finesse he is renowned for between the thirds in front of goal.

Instead the deftness in the danger zone came from Hackney on 36 minutes when he cutely finished from close range after Isaiah Jones got the better of ex-Huddersfield loanee Levi Colwill, who had a difficult half at left-back.

At the other end, Cole Palmer fired wide with the goal gaping after seizing on a poor Jonathan Howson pass inside.

After Hackney’s shock opener, the former Manchester City starlet was again off radar in front of goal after sloppily firing a rebound over from close range after Tom Glover horribly coughed up Enzo Fernandez’s routine shot.

There was enough time before the break for the Aussie keeper to then perform rather better to parry Palmer’s shot following slick play from Chelsea - with the second-choice Boro custodian having also previously denied the midfielder early on in proceedings.

With a precious lead and the rarest of beasts - a cup goal versus Chelsea - Boro’s second-half task revolved around keeping their discipline when their opponents had the ball and waiting for their moments on the counter - and hoping that assistance came from the home stands.

Boro had to stay strong and intelligent in their game plan and accept that their opponents would dominate the ball - and be patient. They did just that.

The action was almost exclusively towards their goal with Glover fortunately well positioned to hold Madueke’s header as the Blues dominated the territory.

Conor Gallagher was the next to threaten, firing off target under pressure.

It was mostly one-way traffic although a rare counter ended in Barlaser firing over before substitute Mykhailo Mudryk shot at Glover. Sensing their side needed fuel, Teessiders provided the petrol and they got over the line.

Middlesbrough: Glover, Van Den Berg, Fry, Engel; I Jones, Howson, Barlaser, Howson, Bangura (Clarke 20); Crooks, Latte Lath (Coburn 5). Unused substitutes: J Jones, Gilbert, O'Brien, Kavanagh, McCabe, Bridge, Bilongo.

Chelsea: Petrovic; Gusto (Gilchrist 90), Disasi, Thiago Silva, Colwill; Caicedo, Fernandez (Broja 63); Madueke (Mudryk 63); Gallagher, Sterling; Palmer. Unused substitutes: Bettinelli, Bergstrom, Williams, Golding Washington.

Referee: S Barrott (West Yorkshire).