Middlesbrough will make their fifth appearance at Wembley when they take on Norwich City in the Championship play-off final next Monday – and they are still looking for their first victory. Chief Sports Writer Scott Wilson looks back at their four previous outings at the home of the English game

 

ZENITH DATA SYSTEMS CUP FINAL (March 25, 1990)

Middlesbrough 0 Chelsea 1

Boro’s first ever Wembley appearance came in the final of the now defunct Zenith Data Systems Cup, a competition that was introduced in the wake of the Heysel Disaster to give teams in the top two divisions an added chance to compete while English clubs were banned from Europe.

The Teessiders were struggling in the bottom half of the Second Division at the time, but after their semi-final with top-flight Aston Villa went into extra-time at Ayresome Park, goals from Bernie Slaven and Paul Kerr booked a final date against Chelsea.

Mark Proctor became the first man to skipper a Middlesbrough side at Wembley, and despite their struggles in the league, Colin Todd’s side were the better team for long periods of a keenly-contested game.

It was Chelsea who scored the only goal though, with full-back Tony Dorigo making the most of a needless foul from Simon Coleman as he fired in a superb 26th-minute free-kick that found the net despite Stephen Pears getting a hand to the ball.

Peter Davenport stabbed Slaven’s cross wide as Boro pushed for an equaliser on the hour mark, but despite increasing the pressure in the closing stages, the Teessiders were unable to beat Dave Beasant in the Chelsea goal.

Middlesbrough: Pears; Parkinson, Kernaghan, Coleman, Cooper; McGee, Proctor, Brennan, Davenport; Ripley, Slaven.

 

COCA-COLA CUP FINAL (April 6, 1997)

Middlesbrough 1 Leicester 1 (AET)

Having seen off Newcastle United and Liverpool in the earlier rounds of the competition, Boro booked their first appearance in the final of a major cup competition when they scraped past lowly Stockport County to reach the Coca-Cola Cup final in a 1996-97 season that would prove one of the most dramatic in the club’s history.

With the likes of Juninho, Emerson and Fabrizio Ravanelli in their ranks, Bryan Robson’s side started as marginal favourites against Leicester, but the final turned out to be a dour affair where defences were on top.

Ravanelli struck the post with a glanced header 13 minutes from the end of normal time, but with neither side able to make a breakthrough in the opening 90 minutes, the game went into extra-time.

The deadlock was broken within the first five minutes of the extra period, with Ravanelli volleying home after Juninho had been tackled in the area, and as the game entered its final two minutes, Boro looked destined to lift the cup.

However, Emile Heskey tapped home an equaliser after his initial header had hit the crossbar, and Leicester triumphed in a replay at Hillsborough ten days later, with Steve Claridge scoring the only goal of the game in the tenth minute of another period of extra-time.

Middlesbrough: Schwarzer; Fleming, Pearson, Festa, Cox; Juninho, Mustoe, Emerson, Hignett; Ravanelli, Beck.

 

FA CUP FINAL (May 17, 1997)

Middlesbrough 0 Chelsea 2

A month-and-a-half after appearing in their first League Cup final, Boro returned to Wembley to make their maiden appearance in the final of the FA Cup, having been relegated from the Premier League at Elland Road a week earlier.

The Teessiders booked their Wembley return in a dramatic semi-final with lowly Chesterfield that saw Boro triumph in a replay after a 3-3 draw at Old Trafford, and the excitement continued in the opening minute of the final.

Just 42 seconds had gone when Roberto Di Matteo picked up the ball in the Boro half and cracked in a ferocious 25-yard strike that beat stand-in goalkeeper Ben Roberts via the underside of the crossbar. It was the fastest goal in FA Cup final history, a record that has subsequently been broken by Louis Saha.

Boro’s hopes of getting back into the game diminished significantly when Ravanelli was forced off with an injury midway through the first half, although Gianluca Festa thought he had claimed an equaliser shortly before half-time when he found the net, only for the effort to be disallowed for offside.

The Teessiders’ hopes of a comeback were finally extinguished seven minutes before the end, with Gianfranco Zola setting up Eddie Newton for Chelsea’s second goal.

Middlesbrough: Roberts; Fleming, Pearson, Festa, Blackmore; Juninho, Mustoe (Vickers 29), Emerson, Stamp; Hignett (Kinder 74), Ravanelli (Beck 24).

 

COCA-COLA CUP FINAL (March 29, 1998)

Middlesbrough 0 Chelsea 2 (AET)

Boro’s most recent Wembley appearance marked their third outing in a major final in the space of 12-and-a-half months, and turned out to be third time that Chelsea got the better of them to lift a trophy.

The Teessiders were playing in the First Division as they saw off Liverpool in a two-legged semi-final, and while their wait for a first major trophy would continue, they were at least able to console themselves with the prize of promotion back to the Premier League a month-and-a-half later.

Unlike the previous year’s FA Cup final between the two sides, the Wembley showpiece proved an uninspiring and uneventful affair. Mark Schwarzer produced an excellent save to keep out a volley from Mark Hughes, but neither team was really able to threaten as normal time finished goalless.

Extra-time proved much more exciting, with Chelsea breaking the deadlock five minutes in. Dennis Wise intercepted an attempted one-two between Paul Gascoigne and Paul Merson, and his cross was headed home by Frank Sinclair.

Chelsea scored again 12 minutes later, with Di Matteo following up his goal in the previous year’s FA Cup final as he made the most of an error from Robbie Mustoe to convert from a corner.

Middlesbrough: Schwarzer; Festa, Vickers, Pearson, Kinder; Merson, Mustoe, Maddison (Beck 102), Townsend; Ricard (Gascoigne 65), Branca.