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Middlesbrough boss Michael Carrick believes his facet needed to “suffer” to earn a 1-0 win in opposition to Chelsea in the Carabao Cup semi-finals.
Hayden Hackney capitalised on missed Chelsea possibilities, scoring in the thirty seventh minute handy Boro a worthwhile benefit going into the reverse fixture at Stamford Bridge on January 23.
His aim got here after already-depleted Boro had been pressured into two early modifications, with Emmanuel Latte Lath and Alex Bangura taken off with harm in the opening 20 minutes.
They defended effectively to make sure they’re now one leg away from the ultimate of the competitors they received again in 2004 and Carrick urged his facet to benefit from the victory.
He stated post-match: “Listen, it’s very special.
“There’s totally two sides to this one: there’s the game tonight and what we had to go through and suffer a little bit to find a way to win, and there’s obviously the fact that there’s another game.
“I have to credit the players and celebrate their performance and effort, because it’s not easy at all to beat a team like that with the quality that they’ve got and to suffer the kind of injuries that we had as well early on – as if we didn’t have enough injuries to start with.
“Tonight was a really special night, the atmosphere, Hayden scoring, it was such a good night for us, so we’ve got to take that as a one-off and enjoy that to be honest. The second leg is a whole new ball game and we know what we’re walking into and he challenges we face.”
Dan Barlaser’s lengthy move performed Isaiah Jones in behind Levi Colwill to cross into Hackney, who caught out a leg to stab previous Djordje Petrovic.
Carrick stated: “Honestly, it couldn’t happen to a nicer lad.
“He’s everything we could ever hope for in a player – he’s humble, he’s hard-working, he’s hugely talented, obviously, and great to work with.”
Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino believes his facet had been “not clinical enough” as they wasted a trio of sensible possibilities in the first half.
Cole Palmer fired huge simply earlier than Hackney put Boro forward then had two extra possibilities, firing over the bar after Tom Glover spilled Enzo Fernandez’s effort earlier than failing to beat the keeper after chopping in from the fitting.
Pochettino stated: “I think we made some mistakes in the first half and we were punished for that.
“We created big chances and we didn’t score, we were not clinical enough, that is so clear.
“We have to credit of course Middlesbrough, it’s the first 90 minutes in the first half of the tie.
“We are losing 1-0 but in two weeks we are going to have the second tie and we need to be positive we can win the game and go to the final.”
Pochettino additionally refuted ideas Chelsea gamers had been booed off the pitch by their visiting followers.
“The fans were reacting with the fans, with Middlesbrough fans, not with our players,” he added.
“Our fans were fantastic as they support us but I think it was Thiago (Silva) and some players, what I hear is they were trying to calm our fans because I think there was a problem between the fans, not between our fans and our players.”
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