Saturday's victory at Manchester City has been described as one of the biggest FA Cup upsets involving a winning Boro team.
Is that accurate? To find out, Philip Tallentire dug through the records to find other candidates and, in addition to the Etihad victory, came up with nine other memorable post-War examples of Boro overcoming the odds to cause a cup upset.
To identify the shock of shocks, he applied his patented ‘Upset-o-meter’ to rate the games in order of shockability and ended up with the following top 10.
How the Upset-o-meter works
A: Gap in respective league positions – one point per place
B: Reigning champions – 10 bonus points
C: Away win – 10 bonus points
D: Win by a two or more goal margin – 5 bonus points
FA Cup, fourth round, Jan 24, 2015: Manchester City 0, Boro 2 (Bamford 53, Kike 90+3). Atten: 44,836
Boro 2nd in the Championship, City 2nd in the Premier League
A: 20 points
B: 10 points
C: 10 points
D: 5 points
Shock rating: 45 points
FA Cup, fourth round, Jan 26, 2002: Boro 2 (Whelan 85, Campbell 89), Manchester United 0. Atten: 17,624
Both teams were in the top flight at the time but few pundits gave Boro prayer prior to kick-off.
Steve McClaren’s side were third from bottom in the Premiership,17 places behind leaders and reigning champions United, which explains the half-full Riverside, along with a lunchtime kick-off and live television coverage.
Daily Mirror
Dean Windass leads the celebrations after Boro dump Manchester United out of the cup
Boro failed to read the prepared script, holding their own throughout the game before grabbing two late goals to complete a deserved win.
* Pre-match league placings: Boro 18th in Premiership, United 1st in Premiership
A: 17 points
B: 10 points
C: 0 points
D: 5 points
Shock rating: 32 points
FA Cup, third round, Jan 4, 1992: Boro 2 (Kernaghan 80, Wilkinson 81), Manchester City 1 (Reid 25). Atten: 21,174
Lennie Lawrence’s Boro were chasing promotion from Division Two while, in the first division, City were fourth in the table going into this encounter.
That said, Peter Reid’s side has been beaten 2-1 at Boro in a fourth round Rumbelows Cup tie just four and a half weeks earlier, so Boro knew they were capable of winning the FA Cup re-match.
The City player-manager opened the scoring from close range in the 25th minute but Boro hit back in the second-half with skipper Alan Kernaghan heading home 10 minutes from time and, just seconds after the re-start, Paul Wilkinson ramming in the winner.
* Pre-match league placings: Boro 4th in Division Two, City 4th in Division One
A: 22 points
B: 0 points
C: 0 points
D: 0 points
Shock rating: 22 points
FA Cup, fourth round, Feb 4, 1992: Sheffield Wednesday 1 (Hirst 4), Boro 2 (Hendrie 39, Wilkinson 72). Atten: 29,772
Played a month after the aforementioned City win, the gap between the respective teams was remarkably similar. Wednesday, who would go on to finish third in the top flight, were fifth before kick-off while Boro were fifth in Division Two.
John Hendrie and Paul Wilkinson.
David Hirst opened the scoring but, crucially, Boro hit back through John Hendrie six minutes before half-time. Cheered on by 5,000 supporters, the visitors kept pushing for the winner and finally made the breakthrough in the 72nd minute, when Paul Wilkinson chipped England keeper Chris Woods.
* Pre-match league placings: Boro 5th in Division Two, Wednesday 5th in Division One
A: 22 points
B: 0 points
C: 10 points
D: 0 points
Shock rating: 32 points
FA Cup third round, January 10, 1962: Boro 1 (Peacock 55), Cardiff 0. Atten: 29,013
A typical blood and guts cup tie had to be played on a night after it was initially postponed.
Cardiff were a top flight side that season – though would go on to be relegated - and went into the game as favourites to beat a Boro team floundering at the wrong end of Division Two.
However, it was the hosts who dominated the game and they deserved to win by a wider margin than their solitary goal.
It was Alan Peacock who scored it, firing home after City defender Alan Harrington had chested a Billy Day header off the goal line.
* Pre-match league placings: Boro 20th in Division Two, Cardiff 12th in Division One
A: 30 points
B: 0 points
C: 0 points
D: 0 points
Shock rating: 30 points
FA Cup, third round replay, Jan 18, 1972: Boro 1 (Hickton 64), Manchester City 0. Atten: 37,931
Second division Boro squandered several wonderful chances to beat title-chasing City in the initial tie at Maine Road but had to settle for a 1-1 draw.
In the replay they edged a tight game courtesy of John Hickton’s 64th minute winner which the City players claimed should have been flagged off-side.
After the match, City coach and future Boro boss Malcolm Allison said: “We were cheated by incompetence.”
Hickton, however, insisted the officials got the decision spot-on.
City’s illustrious team included Mike Summerbee, Colin Bell and Francis Lee and they were second in table, one point off top spot, when their cup tie at Boro kicked-off.
* Pre-match league placings: Boro 7th in Division Two, City 2nd in Division One
A: 27 points
B: 0 points
C: 0 points
D: 0 points
Shock rating: 27 points
FA Cup, third round, Jan 7, 1984: Boro 3 (MacDonald 5, Sugrue 60, Baxter 70), Arsenal 2 (Woodcock 13, Nicholas 64). Atten: 17,813
Both teams were mired in mid-table in their respective divisions ahead of this tie; Boro in the second, Arsenal in the first.
An entertaining game saw Malcolm Allison’s team twice take the lead only for the Gunners, including internationals ‘Champagne’ Charlie Nicholas, Pat Jennings, David O’Leary, Kenny Sansom, Tony Woodcock and Graham Rix, to peg them back.
Then, with 20 minutes to go, Mick Baxter headed home Mick Kennedy’s corner to send Boro through to the fourth round, though it required a couple of sensational Kelham O’Hanlon saves to preserve the slender lead.
* Pre-match league placings: Boro 12th in Division Two, Arsenal 11th in Division One
A: 23 points
B: 0 points
C: 0 points
D: 0 points
Shock rating: 23 points
FA Cup third round replay, March 11, 1963: Boro 3 (Peacock 23 & 31, Kaye 56), Blackburn 1 (Byrom 46). Atten: 39,596
It was the year of the great freeze, which decimated the fixture list and meant Boro’s FA Cup tie at Ewood Park didn’t take place until March 6.
That game ended goalless and the teams tried again the following week, when Boro, 10th in Division Two, beat their top flight opponents 3-1.
The Gazette’s Cliff Mitchell described the tie as “blistering, emotional” and “thrill-studded” and a “sizzling, fever-pitch clash”.
Alan Peacock put Boro 1-0 up with a close-range finish and added a second just after the half hour mark. John Byrom pulled one back at the start of the second half but Arther Kaye sealed the win when he scored with a direct free-kick.
* Pre-match league placings: Boro 9th in Division Two, Blackburn 15th in Division One.
A: 16 points
B: 0 points
C: 0 points
D: 5 points
Shock rating: 21 points
FA Cup third round, Jan 3, 1970: Boro 2 (McIlmoyle 29, Downing 82), West Ham 1 (Stephenson 86). Atten: 32,585
West Ham could be something of a soft touch in those days but they did boast England legends Bobby Moore and Geoff Hurst, so had the potential to dish out a hiding.
Ahead of the game, Boro were mid-table in Division Two but it was Stan Anderson’s underdogs who edged a thrilling cup tie.
Hugh McIlmoyle opened the scoring by heading home Gordon Jones’ corner just before the half hour mark and Derrick Downing nodded in the hosts’ second in the 82nd minute.
That should have been game over but Alan Stephenson set up a grandstand finish by pulling one back four minutes later.
* Pre-match league placings: Boro 10th in Division Two, West Ham 16th in Division One
A: 16 points
B: 0 points
C: 0 points
D: 0 points
Shock rating: 16 points
FA Cup, third round replay, Jan 5, 1971: Boro 2 (McIlmoyle 7, Downing), Manchester United 1 (Best). Atten: 41,000
United weren’t the force they had been three years earlier, when they won the European Cup, but they were still, able to field the holy trinity of George Best, Bobby Charlton and Dennis Law at Ayresome Park.
Boro, then eighth in Division Two, had drawn 0-0 at Old Trafford to force the replay, which attracted a whopping crowd.
Hugh McIlmoyle opened the scoring early on and Derrick Downing added a second midway through the second half before Best headed in a last gasp consolation.
After the game, Boro boss Stan Anderson said: “Promotion must remain our main target.”
* Pre-match league placings: Boro 8th in Division Two, United 18th in Division One
A: 13 points
B: 0 points
C: 0 points
D: 0 points
Shock rating: 13 points
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