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Seven years ago Middlesbrough were riding high in the Championship and enjoying a successful Capital One Cup campaign.

Tony Mowbray's men won through to a last-eight tie against Swansea at the Liberty Stadium thanks to a memorable fourth round victory at Sunderland.

Their run in the competition started on the opening day of the season. Boro were drawn away to Bury and goals from Marvin Emnes and Emmanuel Ledesma proved enough to secure a 2-1 first round win.

Mustapha Carayol and Cameron Park netted in a 2-0 win at Gillingham in round two and Ledesma was again on target in the third round as Boro won 3-1 at Preston. Merouane Zemmama and Richard Smallwood also scored for the visitors.

Boro's reward was a tough away fixture at Sunderland but Scott McDonald's first half goal was enough to eliminate the Premier League side.

Quarter-final opponents Swansea, who featured a certain Garry Monk, were enjoying a successful season in the top flight and eventually finished ninth. Boro were pushing for promotion after finishing seventh the previous season.

Here's Philip Tallentire's report on the match:

Boro’s long and winding road to the Capital One Cup final ended in heartbreaking fashion at the Liberty Stadium.

Just as they had against Sunderland in the fourth round, Tony Mowbray’s men more than matched Premier League opposition.

Swansea City, noted for their celtic version of ‘tiki taki’, were made to look ordinary for much of the quarter-final.

That was down to Boro’s tireless workrate from front to back and, any honest observer would have to admit it was difficult to see which side played in English football’s top tier and which had to graft in level two.

And it looked like extra-time was going to be needed until Seb Hines headed a Jonathan De Guzman corner into his own net in the 81st minute.

Such is football. Swansea can dream of the semi-finals while Boro must refocus rapidly and take the positives into Saturday’s clash with Wolves at the Riverside.

Going into the tie, Mowbray made five changes to the side that started Saturday’s win at Peterborough with three of those coming in defence.

Jonathan Woodgate declared himself unfit after his efforts at London Road and was replaced in the centre by the unfortunate Hines with fit-again George Friend and Justin Hoyte preferred to Andy Halliday and Stuart Parnaby at left and right back respectively.

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Up front Lukas Jutkiewicz came in for out-of-sorts Marvin Emnes while Nicky Bailey replaced Josh McEachran, who was unable to play due to the terms of his loan deal from Chelsea.

Former Boro striker Danny Graham, meanwhile, had to make do with a place on the bench for Swansea.

There was little to choose between the sides in the early stages, though Boro created a half-chance in the 10th minute when Emmanuel Ledesma chipped a diagonal cross into the box but Jutkiewicz failed put any power into his header and Gerhard Tremmel saved easily.

The Swansea keeper faced a stiffer test 11 minutes later when Friend and Grant Leadbitter linked up well down left with the move ending when the former cut the ball back into the path of the latter, who side footed a first-time shot which the goalie held at full-stretch.

In between the two goal attempts, Swansea played plenty of neat passing football without putting the Boro backline under undue pressure.

Just as the natives started getting restless, the hosts finally fashioned an opening in the 35th minute.

Former Boro target Leon Britton sprayed a pass wide to Ben Davies on the left and the full-back whipped in a cross which Itay Shechter headed on and the ball deflected off the unsuspecting Wayne Routledge towards goal but Jason Steele saved.

Seconds later a Boro breakaway ended when Faris Haroun played the ball to Leadbitter, who cleverly created a yard for himself with a neat first touch but his shot was well saved by the keeper.

Swansea forced back-to-back corners moments before half-time but Mowbray’s men cleared their lines effectively and the only sour note on a thoroughly professional first half display was Leadbitter’s booking for a text-book block tackle on Davies.

Early in the second half Boro hit their hosts on the break with Friend directing a superb diagonal long ball out of defence to Hoyte charging forward down the right but the full-back wastefully blasted wide from distance with options in the middle.

Then Leadbitter fired in a low shot from the edge of the box which Tremmel smothered.

Just before the hour mark, Ledesma whipped in a dangerous cross from the right which flashed across the six yard box just in front of Jutkiewicz, who brushed off marker Dwight Tiendalli but couldn’t get a touch on the ball with the goal at his mercy.

The big striker did make contact with another superb Ledesma cross in the 61st minute but his header under pressure looped over the bar.

Mowbray made an injury-enforced double switch in the 64th minute with Haroun and Andre Bikey making way for Richard Smallwood and Andy Halliday with Friend moving into the centre alongside Hines.

Swansea upped the ante as the half wore on with De Guzman firing in two shots of vastly differing quality.

The first was a tame low effort that Steele saved easily but the second, a stunning long-range direct free-kick, looked destined to dip under the bar until the keeper acrobatically tipped the ball onto the woodwork.

In the 81st minute De Guzman made a more telling contribution when he curled in a corner from the left and Hines rose above Garry Monk and Bailey to head the ball but only succeeded in directing it into his own net.

The young centre-back had been superb and didn’t deserve his misfortune.

Boro pushed for an equaliser and went close when Hines headed over an 88th minute corner from close range. Deep in to stoppage time, sub Ishmael Miller powered down the left before sending over a low cross which took a deflection which directed fractionally in front of Scott McDonald sliding in at the far post.

Boro deserved extra-time but as Mowbray often says, fine margins decide football matches and it wasn’t to be Boro’s night.

After the game, Mowbray said: "It was frustrating. On the balance, it was tight, fine margins win and lose. We could easily have won 1-0 rather than lost 1-0."

Michael Laudrup added: "It’s fantastic to reach the semi-finals. I asked all my players who had played in a cup final and no one had. At the end there was a lot of relief and I think everyone can be proud. Now we want the next step and want to go to the final."

Swansea City (4-5-1): Tremmel; Tiendalli, Flores, Monk, Davies; Dyer, Britton, De Guzman, Michu, Routledge (Ki 65); Shechter (Moore 55). Subs: Cornell, Bartley, Graham, Rangel, Agustien

Middlesbrough (4-1-4-1): Steele; Hoyte, Bikey (Halliday 64), Hines, Friend; Ledesma; Bailey, Leadbitter (Miller 82), McDonald, Haroun (Smallwood 63); Jutkiewicz. Subs: Leutweiler, Thomson, Emnes, Parnaby

Postscript: Swansea beat Chelsea over two legs in the semis and won the Capital One Cup final by thumping League Two Bradford 5-0 and, as a result, qualified for Europe. Boro were third and just one point adrift of the Championship top two on December 31 but suffered a serious dip in form in the New Year and finished 16th.