After a 2-0 victory over Notts County in the FA Cup Boro beat Fulham 2-1 at the Riverside to consolidate their mid-table postion.
The first encounter with Arsenal saw Boro thrashed 4-1 at Highbury, but following an exciting 3-3 draw with Leicester at the Riverside the tables were turned.
Boro returned to Highbury and earned a 1-0 victory in the first leg of the Carling Cup semi-final, albeit against a second-string Gunners side. A third visit Highbury within a fortnight had a feeling of deja vu as Arsenal won 4-1 again, this time in the FA Cup 4 round.
The month was rounded off with a thumping 3-0 win over doomed Leeds United at Elland Road.
February
Boro booked their place at Cardiff with a second victory over Arsenal, this time at the Riverside, Boro running out 2-1 winners to win the semi-final 3-1 on aggregate.
A 1-0 home defeat by Blackburn was soon forgotten after a superb 3-2 victory against Manchester United, Boro letting a 2-0 lead slip, before getting a late winner to stun the Old Trafford crowd.
A late penalty cost Boro dearly at Newcastle, a week before their trip to Cardiff, as the Geordies won 2-1 at St. James Park, but Boro would be forgiven on this occasion for having their minds set on the Welsh capital.
With hotel rooms at a premium Boro fans snapped up beds for miles around with Bristol, Gloucester and Cheltenham, to name just a few, benefiting from the 30,000+ Boro fans that were heading for Cardiff.
Who would believe that we would be 2-0 up after just seven minutes, then after a Mark Schwarzer howler we were left to suffer the longest seventy minutes in living memory. But Boro hung on and after 128 years of trying we had won our first major trophy and qualified for Europe.
For the record:
Middlesbrough 2
Schwarzer, Mills, Queudrue, Southgate, Ehiogu, Mendieta, Boateng, Doriva, Zenden, Juninho, Job (Ricketts)
Bolton Wanderers 1
Jaaskelainen, Hunt (Giannakopoulos), N'Gotty, Thome, Charlton, Frandsen (Pedersen), Campo, Okocha, Nolan (Javi Moreno), Djorkaeff, Davies
Scorers: Job (2min), Zenden (7min, pen), Davies (21min)
Attendance:72,634
Referee: Mike Riley
Almost one quarter of a million people attended Boro’s five games in February, culminating in the historic Carling Cup victory in Cardiff, a day never to be forgotten.
March
Boro flopped on their return to league action with a 3-1 reverse at St. Andrews, but picked up two useful home wins against Tottenham and Birmingham to move closer to the magic 40 point mark. Sandwiched between the two victories was another disappointing defeat at Charlton.
A memorable parade around the streets of Middlesbrough was the highlight of the month, as tens of thousands of fans lined the streets for a Carling Cup victory parade. The parade inched it way along Ayresome Street past the site of Ayresome Park, then down Linthorpe Road and along Borough Road, finishing at the Riverside.