Boro fans face an anxious wait to discover whether the FA Cup fifth round clash at Arsenal will be selected for live television coverage.
After Saturday’s heroics at Manchester City, Aitor Karanka will next lead his side to current holders Arsenal on the weekend of February 14/15.
However, thousands of Boro fans are now waiting for official confirmation of the date and time of the tie, before booking accommodation and transport to North London.
TV bosses are expected to run the rule over the fifth round ties in the coming days, with Boro likely to be among those moved from the traditional Saturday slot of 3pm for live coverage.
That means Boro could technically face the Gunners at any point over the weekend, with fourth round ties having taken place both on Friday night and Monday evening.
The wait for official confirmation from The FA could hit fans in the pocket, with train prices likely to gradually increase in the lead-up to the Valentines weekend.
At mid-day today a return train ticket from Darlington to London King’s Cross on Saturday, February 14 was priced at £123.50 on the National Rail website.
The first train heading to London on that day is 5.18am, with the last train coming back to the North-east on that evening scheduled for 9pm.
But if the match is moved to the Friday evening (7.45pm kick-off), Boro fans would find it almost impossible to leave the Emirates after the final whistle and make it to London King’s Cross for the final train, departing at 10pm.
The last train back to the North-east on both Sunday and Monday evenings are also scheduled for 10pm.
Meanwhile fans are also waiting for Boro and Arsenal to announce ticket details, something that will be released after the TV announcement.
Last season Arsenal played four FA Cup ties at home, three of which were against Premier League opposition.
Tottenham, Liverpool and Everton were each allocated 5,186 away tickets at the Emirates Stadium for the respective ties.
But interestingly Arsenal’s fourth round opponents last year, Coventry City, were offered up to 8,686 tickets
The Sky Blues risked the wrath of their own supporters by declining the full allocation, taking a reduced 5,186 tickets in total.
Chris Vaughan/CameraSport
Middlesbrough fans during the second half
As a result, fans from both Liverpool and Everton expressed their grievances with Arsenal and The FA about not being offered the maximum 15% allocation and the same number of tickets that Coventry were offered.
But the reduced ticket allocation was due to concerns raised by the Arsenal Safety Advisory Group, made up of representatives from the club, local authority, police and transport.
The group expressed their concern about fans’ safety, namely “over persistent standing and the use of smoke bombs/pyrotechnics in the upper tiers of the Emirates Stadium”.
That led to the Premier League clubs’ allocation being restricted to 5,186.
Whatever allocation Boro receive, we are likely to see similar scenes at the Riverside of fans queueing from the early hours of the morning to get their hands on a ticket.
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