27/04/2002  Middlesbrough 0 Chelsea 2
 
Teenager Carlton Cole made his bid for Chelsea's FA Cup 
final squad with a stunning header on his first senior start. 

The 6ft 3in 18-year-old has been in prolific form for the 
reserves and youth sides, and took his chance when Claudio 
Ranieri made a late decision not to risk Jimmy Floyd 
Hasselbaink after a worry over a calf-strain in the warm-up at 
the Riverside. 

Cole - a player whom Chelsea chairman Ken Bates has already 
predicted will play for England - was a handful for the Boro 
defence all afternoon, and will have high hopes of making the 
bench for the final against Arsenal despite this being only 
his second senior appearance. 

Chelsea, for whom Emmanuel Petit was a splendid force in 
the centre of midfield, wrapped up matters just before the 
break through Boudewijn Zenden's deflected goal, though 
Middlesbrough at least made a fight of it in the second half. 

Things might have been different if Middlesbrough's Gareth 
Southgate has not been missing due to a broken nose suffered 
at Ipswich in midweek, ending his hopes of being a league 
ever-present this season, and without being booked once. 

The game kicked off 10 minutes late after the West Stand 
was evacuated due to a fire alarm, and within four minutes 
Chelsea had set out their stall, Mark Schwarzer forced to make 
a fine block. 

Zenden somehow bundled his way past Robbie Stockdale to 
find himself faced with only Schwarzer to beat. The Dutchman 
should have scored but the Boro keeper came swooping out of 
goal. 

It was the home side then who nearly took the lead. Benito 
Carbone was the instigator, sliding a ball into the area for 
Jonathan Greening, making the sort of well-timed run that 
Freddie Ljungberg has been doing for Arsenal, to meet 
first-time and shoot left-footed into the side-netting. 

Boro did get the ball in the net twice but the efforts from 
Franck Queudrue and Colin Cooper were ruled out for offside 
and pushing respectively. Cole attempted a snap-shot from 20 
yards but was way off-target, before Gronkjaer fired straight 
at Schwarzer after a lovely lofted-pass by Gianfranco Zola 
allowed him to cut in past Queudrue. 

In the 38th minute, Chelsea finally made their possession 
tell, and it was Cole who made the breakthrough. 

Petit swung in a free-kick from the right and the tall 
youngster leaped above Cooper and planted an excellent header 
from 12 yards beyond Schwarzer. 

Almost immediately, Boro wasted a golden opportunity to 
equalise. Windass chested a ball into the path of Greening but 
the winger slipped as he was about to shoot and the ball 
trickled tamely to Carlo Cudicini. 

Three minutes before the break, Zenden made it 2-0 with a 
deflected shot. Noel Whelan had had a shot blocked at the 
other end, Petit found Zenden on the halfway line and the 
Dutch winger ran to the edge of the area before hitting a 
drive which deflected off Cooper and into the net. 

Boro's fans were quiet all game apart from a vocal party of 
200 schoolchildren sitting behind one goal and taunting 
Chelsea's away support. 

Even they became became quiet at 2-0 - quite what 
misdemeanour they had done to deserve such punishment was 
anyone's guess. 

Boro boss Steve McClaren made three substitutions at 
half-time, and Robbie Mustoe, Carbone, and Windass made way 
for Szilard Nemeth, Michel Debeve and Stewart Downing, a 
left-footed 17-year-old of as much promise as Cole. 

The impact was almost immediate - they should have been on 
from the start. Downing swung in a good corner and Ehiogu won 
the header but put it a yard too high. 

Marcel Desailly made two crucial interventions as Boro 
continued to press, first clearing another dangerous ball from 
Downing, then cutting out Nemeth's threatening low cross. 
Ehiogu then blocked out Cole after a classy turn and shot by 
the Chelsea youngster. 

A glorious chance to get back into the game went begging 
when Debeve found space down the right and floated a cross 
over the Chelsea defence to Whelan, who tried to pick the spot 
for his header but was hopelessly wide. 

Whelan then laid on a half-chance for Debeve, and the 
substitute struck a superb angled drive that missed the far 
post by inches.

Chelsea struck back, as Cole burst past Queudrue and drove 
the ball at goal, the ball thumping into Schwarzer's chest 
with force. It was the teenager's final kick, as he was 
replaced by Mario Stanic and departed to a standing ovation 
from the Chelsea fans.

Zola and Stanic both made the net billow near the final 
whistle, but it was the side-netting in both cases.