Middlesbrough v West Brom Match Programme || FA Cup Blast From The Past

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MIDDLESBROUGH v WEST BROM - FA CUP BLAST FROM THE PAST

"There's a curse on Middlesbrough in the FA Cup." claimed George Hardwick some years ago and if you examine our FA Cup record over the years, you'll probably start thinking the very same thing.

It's difficult to believe that we have only ever played in the semi-final three times before in our, ahem, illustrious history and all three of those occasions came in the last ten years. The semi-final between Boro and Chesterfield in 1997 was one of the most exciting ever played with Chesterfield taking a 2-0 lead after Vlad Kinder's sending-off and having a third goal wiped out when the ref adjudged the ball not to have crossed the line.

A Ravanelli inspired Boro clawed their way back into the Old Trafford clash and forced a replay at Hillsborough where we finished the job easily and made it to our first, and so far only, ever FA Cup final where we were beaten convincingly by Chelsea. What price a Boro v Chelsea final this season?

In 2001/02 Steve McClaren took us to the semi's in his first season where we met Arsenal at Villa Park and played them off the field. We went down 1-0 however when Gianluca Festa made an uncharacteristic mistake that let Arsenal in for a rare scoring chance and sent Boro crashing out.

Hopes were high just ten months ago when Boro saw off a spirited Charlton in the quarter-final to set up a clash with West Ham United at Villa Park. The tie was sandwiched between two Uefa Cup semi-finals with Steaua Bucharest and despite dominating the first-half, Boro were unlucky to go down. Mark Schwarzer was carried off with a broken cheekbone after being brutally fouled by Dean Ashton and Chris Riggott missed a near open goal in the dying seconds.

Boro have made it to the quarter-finals a total of nine times only and two particular quarter-final ties are forever ingrained in the memories of anyone who was around on those particular occasions. One of them was even the catalyst for the break up of a very good team and heralded in the end of an era and the start of a downward spiral that took years to reverse.

Top flight Boro were hot favourites to kill off third division Orient in the 1978 quarters but inexplicably, we struggled at Ayresome Park. The day was summed up by Billy Ashcroft's glaring miss from inside the six-yard box when it looked like it would have been easier for him to score. The east-London minnows beat us 2-1 at Brisbane Road a few days later in the shock result of the round and what was probably Boro's best chance of making the semis for the first time had been blown.

The Orient result was painful but it was nothing compared to our next quarter-final appearance in 1981. John Neal's side were once again red-hot favourites for a place in the semis and it was widely believed that Neal's talented side would peak at Wembley that year. Instead, we were held 0-0 at Ayresome in a tense affair and soundly beaten at Molineaux three days later.

Captain Tony McAndrew said at the time that this particular defeat was so hard to stomach that there was effectively no way back for that side and he was right. Neal left shortly afterwards along with many key players in a dramatic but very sad end of an era. It was to be another sixteen years before Boro made the quarter-finals again.

Bryan Robson used to call the FA Cup his 'lucky cup' but he couldn't bring the good cup times he had enjoyed as a player into management. Robbo will always be the first Boro manager to lead Boro out in a final but that occasion is one that most Boro fans would rather forget. Robbo's FA Cup record with Boro was completely tarnished when we were giant-killed by Tranmere in 1999 and Wrexham the following year.

But even Jack Charlton's great 1970's team suffered the indignity of being knocked out by lower league opposition when Bury buried us in 1976, an embarrassment of a result by anyone's standards.

One of the great FA Cup matches ever was a fourth round tie between Middlesbrough and Sunderland at Ayresome Park in 1975 when both teams played in their away kits and Boro made the Mackems sit down with a Bobby Murdoch piledriver and two John Hickton penalties.

The only other time since then that we have been involved in a north-east FA Cup derby was in 1985 when we drew Darlington in the third round but we're not going to talk about that match here.

Another truly great Middlesbrough FA Cup moment came on our 2002 run to the semi-finals when Steve McClaren's men had Alex Ferguson cancelling the cheque for the Wembley suits as Boro overwhelmed United and sent them crashing out of the fourth round with a 2-0 win.

An all too frequent high point in Boro's unremarkable FA Cup history but hwo fitting would a second ever final appearance be this season?

The New Wembley was primarily built by contractors from Teesside and the lads who did teh job have placed a piece of Boro memorabilia within every piece of hollow tube used to construct the arch. Maybe these buried treasures will act as an omen in drawing Boro to Wembley for the 2007 FA Cup final?

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