Juninho has Boro on brink of final
LONDON, England -- Middlesbrough took a massive step towards a first major trophy with a 1-0 win over Arsenal in their League Cup semifinal first leg at Highbury.
A 53rd-minute strike by Brazilian midfielder Juninho was enough to give Steve McClaren's side a slender lead to take into next week's home leg.
It was depleted Arsenal's first domestic defeat of the season, though they have an immediate chance of revenge this weekend when they host 'Boro in the fourth round of the FA Cup.
Arsenal fielded only three of the players who started against Aston Villa in the Premiership on Sunday with Quincy Owusu-Abeyie handed the task of filling Thierry Henry's boots on his first start for the club.
But it was a near full-strength Middlesbrough who displayed the first signs of naivety with Arsenal's rightback, Kolo Toure, allowed to run unchecked from the half-way line to the edge of the area, from where his shot skidded narrowly wide.
It was the visitors however who came closest to opening the scoring, Juninho firing against the inside of the post in the 16th minute after a neat exchange of passes by George Boateng.
A mistake by the vastly experienced England defender Martin Keown eventually led to Boro's goal.
Presented with the chance to clear his lines, Keown fatally hestitated on the edge of the area, allowing Franck Queudrue to rob him of the ball and free Gaizka Mendieta.
He fed Juninho who fired a low shot from the right of the penalty area into the keeper Graham Stack's bottom right hand corner.
It was a deserved reward for Boro, who had raised their tempo noticeably after the restart and only good saves by Stack denied Juninho and then Massimo Maccarone.
But they soon found themselves struggling to contain an Arsenal side invigorated by the introduction of Jerome Thomas.
Arsenal might also have had a penalty when Ray Parlour's cross struck Juninho on the hand but it was Boro who went closest to adding to their score, Joseph Desire Job firing over rom seven meters in the dying minutes.
