Middlesbrough face Everton tonight in the Capital One Cup at the Riverside and chief football writer Paul Fraser has written this column in the match-day programme ... 

FOR those of you who have been over to Darlington, you will have seen The Northern Echo’s Priestgate home for more than 100 years standing proudly in the centre of town.

Yesterday the Echo had a special visitor … the Capital One Cup.

Having had the chance to get my hands on the famous trophy – maybe not how I’d imagined as a child when I’d dream of scoring a winner at Wembley – it dawned on me that I had got a lot closer than the majority of footballers might during their careers; particularly if they have been in the North-East.

Steve McClaren’s class of 2004 remains the only occasion when a team from this region has won the League Cup believe it or not; dating all the way back to when Aston Villa overcame Rotherham over two legs in 1961.

That’s 54 years ago if you can’t be bothered to work it out; so you can add another year to that if Middlesbrough don’t stun the remaining Premier League teams in the competition and go on to win it for a second time on February 28.

It’s a staggering statistic when you think about it, and there have been nowhere near enough close shaves either to bring some respectability back to a region often described as a hotbed for football.

Sunderland, of course, reached the final in 2014 when they lost out to Manchester City 3-1, even though Fabio Borini had put them in to a nice lead.

And Middlesbrough had those two earlier unsuccessful attempts under Bryan Robson when Leicester, after a replay, and Chelsea got the better of them in 1997 and 1998.

What else? Norwich beat Sunderland in 1985 and Manchester City defeated Newcastle United nine years earlier. Those, ladies and gentlemen, are about as good as has got for a North-East club in the competition.

With the Black Cats and Magpies out already in 2015, it is over to Middlesbrough again to fly the flag and Aitor Karanka would love to go all the way after edging out Manchester United in the last round.

Standing in Boro’s way of a semi-final spot is Everton tonight and the competition has hardly been kind to the Toffees over the years either; you have to go back to 1984 and a defeat to Merseyside neighbours Liverpool for their last final appearance. They have never won it.

But what recent years have dispelled is a theory that title chasing clubs don’t tend to care about the Capital One Cup.

Since Middlesbrough left Sam Allardyce’s Bolton deflated in Cardiff 11-and-a-half years ago, Swansea and Birmingham are the only two clubs to have clinched the trophy who are not regulars in Europe.

Chelsea, Manchester City, Liverpool, Manchester United and Tottenham have all enjoyed League Cup glory … who says it doesn’t matter because it clearly does.