‘How often do you get the chance to win a club’s first-ever trophy? That was a very special day’ Bolo Zenden on what it meant to fire Middlesbrough to their first-ever trophy

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The Dutchman scored the decisive goal when Boro beat Bolton in the 2004 League Cup final

Middlesbrough players celebrate after beating Bolton to win the League Cup in 2004.
Bolo Zenden celebrates with his Boro team-mates after winning the 2004 League Cup (Image credit: Getty Images)

Middlesbrough may well be the 12th-oldest club in English football, but silverware has been hard to come by on Teesside.

The club will celebrate their 150th birthday later this year, yet their trophy cabinet contains just a single major honour, the 2004 League Cup.

It’s therefore no surprise that the victory over Bolton Wanderers at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium remains one of the most cherished moments in club history.

Bolo Zenden on Boro’s League Cup victory

LEEDS - JANUARY 31: Boudewijn Zenden of Middlesbrough celebrates during the FA Barclaycard Premiership match between Leeds United and Middlesbrough on January 31, 2004 at Elland Road in Leeds, England. Middlesbrough won the match 3-0. (Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)

Zenden netted the winning goal against Bolton (Image credit: Getty Images)

Bolo Zenden’s seventh-minute penalty would prove to be the decisive goal that afternoon and more than two decades on, the former Netherlands midfielder recalls the occasion with pride.

“First let me say, that was a very special day,” the ex-Liverpool and Chelsea man tells FourFourTwo. “How often do you get the chance to win a club’s first-ever trophy?

Middlesbrough players celebrate their League Cup final win over Bolton Wanderers in February 2004.

The 2004 League Cup was Boro's first major honour (Image credit: Getty Images)

“I can remember giving a talk beforehand telling the boys we could write history, and we did!”

Zenden’s penalty, which saw Boro go 2-0 up early doors, had a whiff of controversy about it, as he appeared to slip and hit the ball twice.

“The penalty? Look in the record books, that tells you it counted,” he recalls before taking a more philosophical view of the incident.

“I’ll be honest, I did slip as I hit the ball and there’s room for discussion,” he admits. “But I can give you another 10 examples of how VAR might have changed history, such as Frank Lampard’s shot that crossed the line in England’s World Cup defeat to Germany.”

Bolo Zenden is unveiled after signing for Chelsea from Barcelona, 2001

Zenden joined Boro from Chelsea in 2003 (Image credit: Alamy)

With the introduction of VAR, moments like that Lampard goal - plus Zenden’s history-making strike for Boro - would now be challenged in real-time, but the Dutchman can remain happy with how it panned out.

“So don’t worry Boro fans, my penalty still counts!”

Joe Mewis
Joe Mewis

For more than a decade, Joe Mewis has worked in football journalism as a reporter and editor. Mewis has had stints at Mirror Football and LeedsLive among others and worked at FourFourTwo throughout Euro 2024, reporting on the tournament. In addition to his journalist work, Mewis is also the author of four football history books that include times on Leeds United and the England national team. Now working as a digital marketing coordinator at Harrogate Town, too, Mewis counts some of his best career moments as being in the iconic Spygate press conference under Marcelo Bielsa and seeing his beloved Leeds lift the Championship trophy during lockdown.

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