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

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.