2003–04 Football League Cup

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.

2003–04 Football League Cup

Carling Cup, League Cup
Tournament details
Country	England Wales
Teams	92
Defending champions	Liverpool
Final positions
Champions	Middlesbrough (1st title)
Runners-up	Bolton Wanderers
Tournament statistics
Matches played	93
Top goal scorer(s)	Juan Pablo Ángel (7 goals)
← 2002–03 2004–05 →

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

North Tie no Home team Score1 Away team Attendance 1 Barnsley (3) 1 – 2 Blackpool (3) 5,378 2 Bradford (2) 0 – 0 Darlington (4) 4,077 0 – 0 after extra time — Darlington win 5 – 3 on penalties 3 Chesterfield (3) 0 – 0 Burnley (2) 2,928 0 – 0 after extra time — Burnley win 3 – 2 on penalties 4 Crewe (2) 2 – 0 Wrexham (3) 3,152 5 Doncaster Rovers (4) 3 – 2 Grimsby Town (3) 6,057 6 Huddersfield Town (4) 2 – 1 Derby County (2) 6,672 7 Lincoln City (4) 0 – 1 Stockport County (3) 2,296 8 Macclesfield Town (4) 1 – 2 Sheffield United (2) 2,764 9 Port Vale (3) 0 – 0 Nottingham Forest (2) 4,950 0 – 0 after extra time — Nottingham Forest win 3 – 2 on penalties 10 Preston North End (2) 0 – 0 Notts County (3) 5,016 0 – 0 after extra time — Notts County win 7 – 6 on penalties 11 Rotherham United (2) 2 – 1 York City (4) 2,919 12 Scunthorpe United (4) 2 – 1 Oldham Athletic (3) 2,366 13 Tranmere Rovers (3) 1 – 0 Bury (4) 4,272 14 Walsall (2) 2 – 1 Carlisle United (4) 4,665 15 Wigan Athletic (2) 2 – 0 Hull City (4) 3,295 16 Mansfield Town (4) 1 – 2 Sunderland (2) 17 Sheffield Wednesday (3) 1 – 1 Hartlepool United (3) 13,410 2 - 2 after extra time, Hartlepool win 5 - 4 on penalties 18 Stoke City (2) 2 – 1 Rochdale (4) 4,678

South Tie no Home team Score1 Away team Attendance 1 Bristol Rovers (4) 0 – 1 Brighton & Hove Albion (3) 5,518 2 Cambridge United (4) 1 – 2 Gillingham (2) 3,044 3 Cardiff (2) 4 – 1 Leyton Orient (4) 4,503 4 Cheltenham (4) 1 – 2 QPR (3) 3,697 5 Colchester (3) 2 – 1 Plymouth (3) 2,367 6 Luton Town (3) 4 – 1 Yeovil Town (4) 4,337 7 Millwall (2) 0 – 1 Oxford United (4) 4,781 8 Northampton Town (4) 1 – 0 Norwich City (2) 5,476 9 Southend United (4) 2 – 3 Swindon Town (3) 3,385 10 Torquay United (4) 1 – 1 Crystal Palace (2) 3,366 1 – 1 after extra time — Crystal Palace win 3 – 1 on penalties 11 Watford (2) 0 – 0 Bournemouth (3) 9,561 Watford win 1 – 0 after extra time 12 West Bromwich Albion (2) 4 – 0 Brentford (3) 10,440 13 Wycombe Wanderers (3) 2 – 0 Wimbledon (2) 1,986 14 Boston United (4) 1 – 3 Reading (2) 2,055 15 Bristol City (3) 1 – 1 Swansea City (4) 5,807 Bristol City win 4 – 1 after extra time 16 Coventry City (2) 2 – 0 Peterborough United (3) 8,280 17 Ipswich Town (2) 0 – 0 Kidderminster Harriers (4) 11,118 Ipswich win 1 – 0 after extra time 18 West Ham (2) 3 – 1 Rushden & Diamonds (3) 13,715

¹ Score after 90 minutes

Second round

The 36 winners from the First Round joined 12 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.

Tie no	Home team	Score1	Away team	Attendance
1	Blackpool	1 – 0	Birmingham City	7,370
2	Bristol City	0 – 0	Watford	5,213
Bristol City win 1 – 0 after extra time
3	Cardiff City	2 – 3	West Ham	10,724
4	Charlton Athletic	3 – 3	Luton Town	10,905
4 – 4 after extra time - Charlton Athletic win 8 - 7 on penalties
5	Crystal Palace	2 – 1	Doncaster Rovers	4,904
6	Hartlepool United	1 – 2	West Bromwich Albion	5,265
7	Leicester City	1 – 0	Crewe Alexandra	27,675
8	Notts County	2 – 1	Ipswich Town	4,059
9	Portsmouth	5 – 2	Northampton Town	11,130
10	Rotherham United	1 – 0	Colchester United	2,474
11	Scunthorpe United	2 – 3	Burnley	2,915
12	Sheffield United	0 – 2	QPR	9,578
13	Stoke City	0 – 2	Gillingham	4,607
14	Sunderland	2 – 4	Huddersfield Town	13,516
15	Tranmere Rovers	0 – 0	Nottingham Forest	4,477
0 – 0 after extra time - Nottingham Forest win 4 - 1 on penalties
16	Wigan Athletic	1 – 0	Fulham	4,874
17	Wolverhampton Wanderers	2 – 0	Darlington	10,232
18	Wycombe Wanderers	0 – 5	Aston Villa	6,072
19	Bolton Wanderers	3 – 1	Walsall	5,229
20	Coventry City	0 – 3	Tottenham Hotspur	15,474
21	Everton	3 – 0	Stockport County	19,807
22	Leeds United	2 – 2	Swindon Town	29,211
2 – 2 after extra time - Leeds United win 4 - 3 on penalties
23	Middlesbrough	0 – 0	Brighton & Hove Albion	10,435
Middlesbrough win 1 – 0 after extra time
24	Oxford United	1 – 3	Reading	9,870

¹ Score after 90 minutes

Third round

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

Tie no	Home team	Score1	Away team	Attendance
1	Aston Villa	1 – 0	Leicester City	26,729
2	Blackburn Rovers	3 – 4	Liverpool	16,918
3	Chelsea	4 – 2	Notts County	35,997
4	Everton	1 – 0	Charlton Athletic	24,863
5	Newcastle United	1 – 1	West Bromwich Albion	46,932
West Bromwich Albion win 2 – 1 after extra time
6	Nottingham Forest	2 – 4	Portsmouth	20,078
7	Tottenham Hotspur	0 – 0	West Ham
Tottenham Hotspur win 1 – 0 after extra time
8	Wigan Athletic	1 – 2	Middlesbrough	8,046
9	Arsenal	1 – 1	Rotherham United	27,451
1 – 1 after extra time - Arsenal win 9 - 8 on penalties
10	Blackpool	1 – 3	Crystal Palace	6,010
11	Bolton Wanderers	2 – 1	Gillingham	5,258
12	Bristol City	1 – 3	Southampton	17,408
13	Leeds United	1 – 1	Manchester United	37,546
Manchester United win 3 – 2 after extra time
14	QPR	0 – 3	Manchester City	16,773
15	Reading	1 – 0	Huddersfield Town	11,892
16	Wolverhampton Wanderers	2 – 0	Burnley	18,548

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

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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

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2003-12-03

Middlesbrough	0–0 (a.e.t.)	Everton
Penalties
	5–4

Riverside Stadium, Middlesbrough

Attendance: 18,568

Referee: Mark Halsey

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2003-12-03

Reading	0–1	Chelsea
		Hasselbaink 57'

Madejski Stadium, Reading

Attendance: 24,107

Referee: Steve Bennett

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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

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2003-12-03

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

The Hawthorns, West Bromwich

Attendance: 25,282

Referee: Jeff Winter

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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

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2003-12-02

Southampton	2–0	Portsmouth
Beattie 33', 90'

St. Mary's Stadium, Southampton

Attendance: 29,201

Referee: Graham Poll

Quarter-finals

The draw for the quarter-finals 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.

2003-12-16

20:00

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

The Hawthorns, West Bromwich

Attendance: 20,369

Referee: Matt Messias

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2003-12-16

20:00

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

Reebok Stadium, Bolton

Attendance: 13,957

Referee: Phil Dowd

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2003-12-17

19:45

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

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2003-12-17

19:45

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 26 January 2004, however the second leg of Middlesbrough v Arsenal was not played until 3 February 2004.

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' Ngotty 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

Further information on this match: 2004 Football League Cup Final

The 2004 Carling Cup Final was played on 29 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.

2004-02-29

14:00

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