We should have known it wouldn’t be routine.
In 67 years the Twin Towers of Wembley had never welcomed Boro on to the famous pitch.
That was about to change, wasn’t it?
Boro had put themselves in a commanding position. A 2-1 win at the home of First Division big-boys Aston Villa in the first leg of the ZDS Cup semi-final meant the ball was firmly in Boro’s court.
At least it was until Stuart Gray forced the ball over the line with just 13 minutes to play in the deciding return leg at Ayresome Park on this day in 1990.
Suddenly the scores were level. Suddenly it appeared as though Boro’s Wembley hoodoo was about to strike again.
For the 20,806 at Ayresome Park, it was now a feeling of edginess they were experiencing instead of excitement.
Full-time came and went. Into extra-time.
Step forward a certain goal-grabbing Glaswegian.
Bernie Slaven slammed home his 24th goal of the season in the 12th minute of extra-time to put Boro back in the driving seat.
Boro in action against Aston Villa in the second leg of the 1990 ZDS Cup semi-final
And even the doubters - those who wouldn’t allow themselves to believe at the risk of having their heart broken again - started to celebrate and plan their trip to the capital when Paul Kerr drilled a strike through a sea of legs to put Boro 4-2 up on aggregate.
Que Sera, Sera....
“It’s taken 67 frustrating years of broken dreams for Boro finally to build the way to Wembley,” reported the Gazette.
“And even then, they needed a goal of stunning quality from Bernie Slaven to finally lay the bogey to rest in a night of high tension against Aston Villa.”
For the Gazette’s Anthony Vickers, the defeat of title-chasing Aston Villa to book a first trip to Wembley was the best ever night on the Holgate.
“What a night,” he wrote in a piece looking back on the memorable tie.
“We EIOed and “que sera sera-ed” pretty much non-stop after Nookie’s goal. Grown men cried. Tough, cynical dockers and steelworkers in donkey jackets and everything.
“A big group of us were broken up, pushed and pulled and thrown in all directions by the eddy of the Holgate surge.
“We were hugging strangers, Losing money and all dignity in the scrum. The Old School good natured pitch invasion on the whistle was the last time I was on the pitch in an unofficial capacity. It was great. “Bizarrely I told Peter Davenport he’d had a great game. He had. How crazy was that?”
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