2003–04 Football League Cup

2003–04 Football League Cup

Carling Cup, League Cup
Country	England  Wales
Teams	92
Champions	Middlesbrough (1st title)
Runners-up	Bolton Wanderers
Matches played	93
← 2002–03 2004–05 →

The 2003–04 Football League Cup (known as the Carling Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the 44th staging of the Football League Cup, a knockout competition for England's top 92 football clubs. The competition name reflects a sponsorship deal with lager brand Carling.

The competition began in August 2003 and ended with the final on 29 February 2004. The Millennium Stadium in Cardiff hosted the final match, as it had done since 2001 as the reconstruction was still taking place on Wembley Stadium in London.

The winners were Middlesbrough who beat Bolton Wanderers in the final 2-1 and collected their first major piece of silverware in their history and as a result of their victory qualified for European football for the first time. Joseph Desire-Job gave Middlesbrough the lead with just 2 minutes gone and a Bolo Zenden penalty five minutes later doubled their advantage. Kevin Davies pulled a goal back in the 21st minute but Middlesbrough held on. It was to be until 2008 when another English manager won a domestic tournament when Harry Redknapp (then at Portsmouth) lifted the FA Cup.

First round

Second round

The 36 winners from the First Round joined 16 of the 20 Premier League clubs not participating in the UEFA Champions League in Round Two.

• The draw was made on 16 August 2003.
• Matches occurred during the week commencing 22 August.
• Extra time played when the scores were level after 90 minutes.

¹ Score after 90 minutes

Third round

Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea and Newcastle United joined the 24 winners from the Second Round. Matches were played on the week commencing 27 October 2003

¹ Score after 90 minutes

Fourth round

• The draw was made on 30 November 2003.
• Matches were played in the week commencing 1 December.
• Extra time played when scores level at 90 minutes.

2003-12-03

Aston Villa	3–0	Crystal Palace
Symons  22' (o.g.) McCann  70' Ángel  79'

Villa Park, Birmingham

Attendance: 24,258

Referee: Mike Dean

2003-12-03

Liverpool	2–3	Bolton Wanderers
Murphy  66' Šmicer  88'		Jardel  4' Okacha  79' Djorkaeff  90' (pen.)

Anfield, Liverpool

Attendance: 33,185

Referee: Mike Riley

2003-12-03

Reading	0–1	Chelsea
		Hasselbaink  57'

Madejski Stadium, Reading

Attendance: 24,107

Referee: Steve Bennett

2003-12-03

Tottenham Hotspur	3–1	Manchester City
Anderton  9' Postiga  30' Kanouté  90'		Fowler  80'

White Hart Lane, London

Attendance: 31,727

Referee: Paul Durkin

2003-12-03

West Bromwich Albion	2–0	Manchester United
Haas  6' Dobie  56'

The Hawthorns, West Bromwich

Attendance: 25,282

Referee: Jeff Winter

2003-12-02

Arsenal	5–1	Wolverhampton Wanderers
Aliadière  24', 71' Kanu  68' Wiltord  79' Fàbregas  88'		Rae  81'

Highbury, London

Attendance: 28,161

Referee: Dermot Gallagher

2003-12-02

Southampton	2–0	Portsmouth
Beattie  33', 90'

St. Mary's Stadium, Southampton

Attendance: 29,201

Referee: Graham Poll

Fifth round

The draw for the fifth round was made on 6 December 2003. Matches were played in the week beginning 15 December 2003. The only team from outside the Premier League competing in this round was West Bromwich Albion, who lost 2-0 to Arsenal.

2003-12-1620:00

West Bromwich Albion	0–2	Arsenal
		Kanu  25' Aliadière  57'

The Hawthorns, West Bromwich

Attendance: 20,369

Referee: Matt Messias

2003-12-1620:00

Bolton Wanderers	1–0 (a.e.t.)	Southampton
Pedersen  115'

Reebok Stadium, Bolton

Attendance: 13,957

Referee: Phil Dowd

2003-12-1719:45

Tottenham Hotspur	1–1 (a.e.t.)	Middlesbrough
Anderton  2'		M. Ricketts  86'
Penalties
	4–5

White Hart Lane, London

Attendance: 25,307

Referee: Mike Dean

2003-12-1719:45

Aston Villa	2–1	Chelsea
Ángel  16' McCann  78'		J. Cole  69'

Villa Park, Birmingham

Attendance: 30,414

Referee: Neale Barry

Semi-finals

The semi-final draw was made on 20 December 2003 Unlike the other rounds, the semi-final ties were played over two legs, with each team playing one leg at home. The ties were played in the weeks beginning 19 January and 20 January 26 January 2003, however the second leg of Middlesbrough v Arsenal was not played until 3 February 2003.

First leg

2004-01-20

Arsenal	0–1	Middlesbrough
		Juninho  53'

Highbury, London

Attendance: 31,070

Referee: Steve Dunn

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2004-01-21

Bolton Wanderers	5–2	Aston Villa
Okocha  2', 80' Nolan  9' Giannakopoulos  17' N'Gotty  74'		Ángel  20', 56'

Reebok Stadium, Bolton

Attendance: 16,302

Referee: Paul Durkin

Second leg

2004-01-27

Aston Villa	2–0	Bolton Wanderers
Hitzlsperger  10' Samuel  88'

Villa Park, Birmingham

Attendance: 36,883

Referee: Steve Bennett

Bolton Wanderers won 5–4 on aggregate.

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2004-02-03

Middlesbrough	2–1	Arsenal
Zenden  69' Reyes  85' (o.g.)		Edu  77'

Riverside Stadium, Middlesbrough

Attendance: 28,781

Referee: Dermot Gallagher

Middlesbrough won 3–1 on aggregate.

Final

The 2004 Carling Cup Final was played on 24 February 2004 at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff. It was contested by Bolton Wanderers and Middlesbrough. Middlesbrough won the match 2-1 and in doing so collected their first major piece of silverware in their history and qualified for the European football in the UEFA Cup for the first time.

2004-02-2914:00

Bolton Wanderers	1–2	Middlesbrough
Davies  21'	Report	Job  2' Zenden  7' (pen.)

Millennium Stadium, Cardiff

Attendance: 72,634

Referee: Mike Riley (West Yorkshire)

See also

• Football League Cup

External links

• Official Carling Cup website
• Carling Cup at bbc.co.uk
• Results service at soccerbase.com