(Howson 11 minutes, Rogers 23 minutes, Crooks 53 minutes)
VALE PARK – Middlesbrough’s first team squad is so depleted that four of their substitutes had not made a single appearance for the club as of Tuesday evening.
This is juggling with the leadership of the championship. Michael Carrick did rest some of the main players, and some fans joked before the game that the best result would be if no one got injured. December is a long month in the league, and hard-field resources are spread thin.
Romance still finds its way. Behind the goal at Vale Park, 3,100 Boro fans jumped and danced, waiting to warm up and highlight the magnitude of the achievement.
Some wore Santa hats and replica shirts over heavy sweaters in a festive red and white outfit. Boro have reached the domestic cup semi-final for the first time in 18 years and are yet to finish.
For all the talk about the League Cup becoming a disadvantage for Premier League clubs, it has become almost exclusively a natural habitat in which they feed voraciously.
The last time the winner of this competition did not qualify for European football due to their position in the competition was Swansea City in 2012. Since then, the competition has been won by four clubs: Manchester City, Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool.
This was the reason for a big promise. Port Vale have not even progressed beyond the fourth round of a major cup competition since 1996 and have never played in the quarter-finals before.
Their path to this stage was littered with luck as they drew against three teams from the second division and one from the first division. But the most unlikely event in their modern history happened.
In hindsight they might have cursed the big fish for not arriving in the middle of a dreary winter so Sky Sports cameras and the publicity machine could roll down the A50. In a less brutal draw, everything is going well until you are swept aside by a team a division and several classes above you without even selling out the field.
After 53 minutes, with a three-goal deficit, mischievous glances were exchanged between the couples in the Lorne Street stands, who had fleeting thoughts about hot drinks and radiators.
Middlesbrough did not dominate throughout the match but had to work hard with clever and stylish counter-attacks that cut through a thin midfield and high defensive line.
Morgan Rogers, a winger signed from Manchester City this summer, has a crazy look but is technically superior to everyone else on the pitch, even at the age of 21. Jonny Howson contributed to an experienced club, with the 35-year-old captain opening the game. check.
Then came the celebratory treats: Rodgers’ exquisitely crafted conclusion, Matt Crooks working and editing Connor Ripley’s eyes, a Jingle Bells-style jumping finale – “Oh, how good it is to see Boro win” – and the final quarter of the game. the game was played at quarter pace to save energy. Carrick will be almost as happy about this as he is about the result.
But that’s all for fans who played a repertoire of songs using Game Vault – there are few better feelings. Away games before Christmas hit fans hard on their pockets. They cost twice as much if your army sings at Wembley. Carrick knows everything about how to win this match. Don’t shut them out from the big boys.
Source: I News
I’m Dave Martin, and I’m an experienced journalist working in the news industry. As a part of my work, I write for 24 News Reporters, covering mostly sports-related topics. With more than 5 years of experience as a journalist, I have written numerous articles on various topics to provide accurate information to readers.