Middlesbrough 0-2 Cardiff 03/09/2008

Goals from Peter Whittingham and Roger Johnson helped Championship side Cardiff dump Premier League strugglers Middlesbrough out of the FA Cup.

Highlights

First Half



Second Half

Boro were poor throughout and were behind on nine minutes when Whittingham curled the ball into the net.

And 13 minutes later, Roger Johnson headed home Whittingham's free-kick to leave Boro with a huge uphill task.

Afonso Alves and Stewart Downing both had half chances for the home side but they rarely threatened.

Boro had made a steady opening to the match but were left furious by the Bluebird's opening goal.

Stephen McPhail appeared to handle in mid-air before it fell to Whittingham.

But nothing was given and Whittingham latched on to the ball inside the box and curled it into the top right hand corner after some brilliant skills to find shooting space.

That lead was doubled on 22 minutes after Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink was fouled 30 yards out by Fabio Rochemback.

Whittingham's resulting free kick found Roger Johnson free at the back post to head across the face of goal and into the net past Mark Schwarzer.

Johnson came close to replicating his goal from the opposite side soon after and Paul Parry drilled an effort just wide as Cardiff controlled the game.

Middlesbrough were finding themselves outfought and outplayed in the first half and were restricted to just the one half-chance.

That came from Afonso Alves who cut inside from the left and curled a shot, but Peter Enckelman was able to parry to safety.

The home side were deservedly booed off at the break, but they came out for the second half looking to claw themselves back into the game.

It did not really have any effect though as Cardiff coped with ease everything they tried to throw at them.

Stewart Downing did see an effort go just wide on the hour after Hasselbaink gave away a free kick just outside the box for handball.

But Boro lacked ideas much to the frustration of the home supporters, some of which decided they had seen enough with 20 minutes still to go.

And they missed nothing as Cardiff held on to continue an extraordinary weekend of shocks in the FA Cup and book their place at Wembley in the semi-final.