Soccer: Bolton Wanderers - 1 Middlesbro - 2 This was a botched beauty of a final. The mistakes and the flourishes chased one another across the Millennium Stadium turf, leaving players and fans breathless.

It was to be Middlesbrough who felt the exhaustion vanish with the blast of the referee's whistle that confirmed the first trophy of the club's 128-year history.

The barren search for silverware and, with it, the prospect of a tilt at European football has been such a fount of despondency that the Middlesbrough fans who came to Cardiff had queasiness to conceal. From 1997 to 1998, the team lost two finals in the League Cup and one in the FA Cup, nurturing the suspicion that it might take freakish events to prise them out of failure.

This game was to fit the bill. Particularly in the first half, the final was a madcap contest that reduced every spectator to a state of jabbering disbelief.

Middlesbrough had been 2-0 ahead by the seventh minute. Later in the day, however, there was a sourness to the excitement in a match where the referee Mike Riley and his assistants had the feeblest of grasps on the action around them.

In the 90th minute, the Bolton substitute Stelios Giannakopoulos cracked a shot that had Ugo Ehiogu sprawling to block. Although the centre-back's handling of the ball may not have been specifically intended, he had invited it by the manner in which he spread and hurled himself. Sam Allardyce's team were a little unfortunate not to be invited to equalise with a penalty. Heaven knows if they would have converted it in this caper of a contest.

Bolton had too little cover when it mattered. In the second minute, Emerson Thome could not get much purchase on a clearing header and no team-mate was around to tidy up before Gaizka Mendieta bent a ravishing pass behind the defence for an unmarked Bolo Zenden to charge through on the left. The Dutchman smashed the ball across and Joseph-Desire Job turned it in.

Five minutes later, Mendieta picked out Job and as he eased into space Thome brought him down. We then had conclusive proof that a cool head is not essential to land a penalty in the net. Zenden was in a panic as he hit it, keeling over so that his left foot struck the ball and knocked against the right.

It still found its target off the trailing boot of the goalkeeper Jussi Jaaskelainen, but the double contact by Zenden should have invalidated the penalty and seen the award of an indirect free-kick to Bolton. Remarkably sharp eyesight would have been required to discern with confidence what had happened and Riley's failure to react is understandable.

The official was not alone in offering an erratic display. Mark Schwarzer, for instance, made the absurd mistake that let Bolton back into the game, but also took credit for ensuring that the recovery went no further.

In the 21st minute, Juninho, who did not flourish until the latter stages, lost possession and Kevin Nolan's pass on the right led to the pugnacious Kevin Davies turning Gareth Southgate. Declining to wait for help to arrive in the middle, the forward shot from an angle on the edge of the penalty area. His poor decision was rewarded because Schwarzer did not got his body squarely behind the bobbling drive and instead glanced it into the net.

The goalkeeper who had taken part in Middlesbrough's two League Cup final losses made up for that vulnerability with invincibility. His scraping contact sent Per Frandsen's attempt on to a post in the 21st minute, and Schwarzer was then alert enough to reach Youri Djorkaeff's bid to stroke home the rebound.

Half time was a dividing line. Until then, the rivalry of two individuals who each wanted to become the first English manager since 1996 to lift a domestic trophy had been a hilarious irrelevance. These players might as well have never seen a coach, let alone absorbed his instructions. McClaren, however, did bring his will to bear.

With Middlesbrough in front, his task was simply to reintroduce discipline. His team began to defend in numbers and with more care as they remembered how to counter-attack.

It was Middlesbrough who were likelier to score as Mendieta and Juninho exploited the space to be found on the break.

Job left Campo in his wake to offer the Spaniard the most appealing opening, but his finish floated over Schwarzer and the bar.

Six minutes from the end, the substitute Michael Ricketts, hissed for his supposed desertion of Bolton, presented Juninho with a chance that was also hit high.