Six of the best ... League Cup triumph proves ultimate highlight for Middlesbrough

Manager Steve McCLaren with the Carling Cup on an open top bus during a victory parade in March 2004. Middlesbrough defeated Bolton Wanderers 2-1 in the final.

It provided them with the sweetest moment of their history with Gareth Southgate lifting the famous trophy aloft at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium on February 29, 2004 - ending the Teessiders’ 128-year wait for their first piece of major silverware after an unforgettable 2-1 victory over Bolton.

The competition in its various guises has also witnessed many other halycon games for the Teessiders, who lock horns with Everton in front of a near sell-out Riverside crowd on Tuesday night.

Here’s six of the Boro best in the competition.

1. Middlesbrough 2 Bolton Wanderers 1; February 29, 2004: Boro created joyous history in the principality at the expense of Sam Allardyce’s Bolton.

The Teessiders went in front inside two minutes from a tap-in by Joseph-Desire Job and were in dreamland five minutes later when Bolo Zenden slipped before firing home a controversial penalty after Emerson Thome brought down Job.

A Mark Schwarzer howler gifted a goal back for Kevin Davies, but it’s Boro’s day ... finally.

2. Arsenal 0 Middlesbrough 1, January 20, 2004: Despite fielding a youthful side, the Gunners were overwhelming favourites ahead of the first leg of their two-legged semi with Boro, but the Teessiders claimed a shock win through Juninho’s strike just after the interval - which inflicted a first domestic defeat in thirty matches for Arsenal in 2003-04.

In the second leg, Boro booked a Wembley berth with a 2-1 success in a game which saw Arsenal signing Jose-Antonio Reyes score at both ends.

3. Middlesbrough 2 Liverpool 0; February 18, 1998: Early goals from Paul Merson (penalty) and Marco Branca saw Boro topple the Merseysiders and claim a Wembley berth after a 2-0 second leg success as they won their semi-final tie 3-2 on aggregate. Merson converted after Jamie Carragher felled Mikkel Beck and it was 2-0 after just four minutes when Branca shot under David James’ legs.

One of the most famous nights ever at the Riverside.

4. Middlesbrough 2 Liverpool 1; January 8, 1997: History may show it was the debut of a player who went onto become an Anfield legend in Carragher, but it was a night which ultimately belonged to Boro as they progressed to the semi-finals - and a meeting with Dave Jones’ giant-killing Stockport County.

Goals from boyhood Reds fan and former Anfield trainee Craig Hignett and stopper Steve Vickers put Boro 2-0 ahead inside half-an-hour and despite Steve McManaman pulling one back for Merseysiders, the hosts held out.

5. Middlesbrough 3 Newcastle 1; November 27, 1996: It was a season (1996-97) when Boro famously were relegated, but reached both domestic finals, with one of the sweetest memories being a 3-1 victory over arch-rivals Newcastle at a bouncing Riverside - thanks to goals from Derek Whyte, Mikkel Beck and Fabrizio Ravanelli as they booked their last eight place with a famous win in the Tees-Tyne derby.

6. Middlesbrough 1 Manchester City 0; January 13, 1976: A John Hickton strike gave Jack Charlton’s Boro a slender lead after a tight first leg watched by 34.579 at Ayresome Park - in the club’s first appearance in the semi-finals of the League Cup.

Many on Teesside may have been dreaming of a maiden voyage to Wembley, but the more long-in-the-tooth Boro fans feared that margin would not be enough and they were proved right as City hammered them 4-0 in a one-sided second-leg at Maine Road, thanks to goals from Ged Keegan, Alan Oakes, Peter Barnes and Joe Royle.