ASK any Middlesbrough fan to name a game from the last couple of decades that they shudder at the thought of and Cardiff will be right at the top of the list.

2008, the FA Cup quarter-final and the most glorious opportunity spurned. Has there ever been a more 'Typical Boro' game? Certainly not in the Riverside era.

It was at the Riverside - rather than in Wales where the teams will meet today in the Championship - that the last eight clash was played and FA Cup excitement had turned into expectation 24 hours earlier when Manchester United were sent packing by Portsmouth and Chelsea were stunned by Barnsley.

With Bristol Rovers meeting West Brom - then in the Championship - in the other quarter final clash, Boro knew the only Pompey were now the only Premier League club standing in the way of FA Cup glory.

What could possibly go wrong?...

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Cardiff were not just struggling on the pitch in the second tier, with their only win in seven games prior to their trip to Teesside coming in the fifth round of the cup, they were in crisis off the pitch and preparing for a High Court battle for survival over £24m worth of debts.

And yet within 23 minutes they were in dreamland at the Riverside, 2-0 up thanks to goals from Peter Whittingham and Roger Johnson.

Twenty-two league places separated the sides but you wouldn't have guessed it. Afonso Alves forced one good first half save out of Cardiff keeper Peter Enckelman but a comeback was never on the cards.

The Brazilian was replaced by Mido at half-time but the Egyptian substitute was equally as ineffective. Stewart Downing had a couple of second half efforts and Robert Huth was sent up-front in a desperate last push but Boro were on their way out.

How Boro could have done with their ex-striker Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, even if he was nearly 36, who led the line for Cardiff.

"They were the better side throughout, we didn't perform," admitted a shellshocked Southgate.

"Whether we froze, or the occasion was too much, I don't know, but we can have no complaints. I have to take responsibility because I know I have a group of players who give everything and today they weren't able to find that."

Cardiff boss Dave Jones, whose team cost £1m, said: "I said we'd have to be at our best and they'd have to be a bit off their best and that's pretty much how it worked out.

Goalscorer Johnson said: "We did everything better than them and deserved the result."

It was a result that stung at the time and still does to this day. A win would have set-up a semi-final with Barnsley for Boro and a final against Portsmouth, who ended up lifting the trophy. What could - should - have been.

Sunday, March 9, 2008

Middlesbrough: Schwarzer, Young, Wheater, Huth, Pogatetz, O'Neil, (Johnson 58), Rochemback, Arca, Downing, Alves (Mido 45), Tuncay.

Subs not used: Turnbull, Boateng, Grounds.

Cardiff: Enckelman, McNaughton (Blake 88), Johnson, Loovens, Capaldi, Whittingham, Rae, McPhail, Ramsey, Hasselbaink (Thompson 77), Parry (Sinclair 83).

Subs not used: Oakes, Purse.

Referee: Mike Dean

Attendance: 32,896