MIDDLESBROUGH: Chelsea suffered a surprise 1-0 loss at second-tier Middlesbrough in the first leg of their League Cup semi-final on Tuesday with Hayden Hackney’s goal giving Mauricio Pochettino’s wasteful side plenty to do in the return.

The 21-year-old Hackney’s silky finish from an Isaiah Jones pass stunned the visitors in the 37th minute at the Riverside Stadium and the hosts defended superbly to take a slender advantage to Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea only had themselves to blame though as they dominated possession but squandered a host of chances — the biggest culprit being Cole Palmer who failed to hit the target twice in the opening half with the goal gaping.

Boro, who won the trophy in 2004 but are currently 12th in the Championship, had chances on the counter-attack to increase their lead but will still head to London believing they can reach Wembley.

Chelsea have lost five of their last six away games and 21 times on the road since the beginning of last season — the most of any Premier League team.

Their players were booed by some of their own fans at the final whistle with Thiago Silva acting as peacemaker but they will be confident of making amends in the second leg on Jan. 23.

Chelsea’s stuttering first season under Pochettino has been a case of one step forward and two back and Tuesday was a prime example of the problems they face as they were unable to beat Michael Carrick’s injury-ravaged Boro.

They had 18 goal attempts, the majority in the first half, but once again they lacked quality in front of goal and were often exposed in defence. “We made some mistakes in the first half and gave them chances to score,” Pochettino told Sky Sports after his side’s ninth defeat of the season in all competitions.

“After that they were aggressive and played with a deep block and it was hard for us to break them down. But we have another 90 minutes and we need to be positive.

“If we assess the performance overall we were the better side, had clear chances, but we didn’t score and weren’t clinical. It happened a lot this season.”

For former Manchester United and England midfielder Carrick, and a raucous home crowd, it was a special night.

Carrick could have been forgiven for cursing his luck after losing top scorer Emmanuel Latte Lath to injury after just three minutes. He was also forced to withdraw Alex Bangura inside 20 minutes but the second-tier side were not fazed.

“It’s very special,” Carrick said. “I know it’s a two-legged affair and there is still all to play for, but for what we’ve had to go through, the injuries, the setbacks we’ve had, to beat a team of Chelsea’s quality is unbelievable. It was an exceptional effort.”

Middlesbrough had not scored against Chelsea for over 17 years. The Blues had won the past nine meetings by an aggregate score of 21-0.

However, the home side ended that drought eight minutes before half-time when the lively Jones did superbly to latch on to a long pass and bamboozle Chelsea left back Levi Colwill before squaring for Hackney to guide the ball past Djordje Petrovic from close range.

Chelsea, though, should have at least been level but Palmer sliced over from in front of goal after Boro keeper Tom Glover failed to gather a shot by Enzo Fernandez in first-half stoppage time.

And Palmer was denied again before the halftime whistle, this time taking too long to shoot and then firing too close to Glover who had a superb game.

Chelsea monopolised the ball in the second half but lacked the guile to break down Boro’s red wall.

Middlesbrough conceded late to lose 1-0 to Aston Villa in the FA Cup third round on Saturday.

But this time the team that sit 12th in the Championship held out to keep their dreams of a Wembley final against either Liverpool or Fulham very much alive heading into the second leg.

Published in Dawn, January 11th, 2024