Boro old boy sends his former club crashing

Hignett, resplendent in his shiny silver footwear, masterminded Rovers' extra-time victory with a goal and an assist in his first appearance against his old club since quitting the Riverside four years ago.

And the twinkle-toed striker then revealed the secret behind his new fashion accessories which came special delivery from the North East just an hour prior to kick-off!

"The boots came from Gianluca Festa who plays for Middlesbrough," confessed Higgy.

"He owns his own boot company and I've been after a pair of silver and red ones for a while.

"A lad brought them down from Boro for me so I only got them about half six.

"But I just stuck them on and wore them for the game and they were absolutely brilliant." It's not been a bad week for the silver boot brigade.

David Beckham bent home a dramatic last-gasp free kick in a pair as England scraped through to the World Cup finals on Saturday.

And there was a similar silver lining here as Hignett delivered the corner from which Craig Short eventually headed Rovers into round four via a cross from Damien Johnson in the 113th minute.

Ironically, the 31-year-old had earlier opened his account for the season with a thumping header to justify Graeme Souness's decision to play him up front.

But Boro bounced back to equalise through Slovakian striker Szilard Nemeth before Short's late winner kept Rovers on course for their first silverware since 1995.

"I thought we made things very hard for ourselves tonight," said Souness.

"We worked hard to get an early goal but then conceded a soft equaliser and that gave them a bit of a lift after that.

"So, although we won the game, it should have been a more comfortable evening for us."

Last season, Souness openly admitted the Worthington Cup did not figure high on his list of priorities as he focused all his energy on returning Rovers to the Premiership.

But, with phase one of his Ewood revolution now complete, the ambitious Scot is hungry to start putting trophies in the cabinet.

And this competition represents his best chance of achieving that this season as Rovers find their feet in the top-flight after the euphoria of promotion.

Nevertheless, Souness still had to balance that up with giving some of his fringe players a piece of the action.

And Hignett, in particular, made the most of a rare start by weighing in with two vital contributions.

It was hardly a vintage team performance as Rovers struggled to break down a stubborn Boro defence.

But Souness took plenty of positives out of the game, most notably a composed display from new-boy Nils-Eric Johansson on his debut.

The Swedish Under 21 international survived a couple of hairy moments early on before helping to snuff out the considerable threat of Alen Boksic.

And, considering he'd only had two days to get to know his new team-mates, the 21-year-old slotted in comfortably alongside Short in a back four which was also boosted by the return of the fit-again John Curtis.

With wide-men Keith Gillespie and Damien Duff still out injured, however, Rovers missed the zip the jet-heeled duo provide down the flanks.

And that lack of penetration going forward became increasingly frustrating until the introduction of Matt Jansen and Ciccio Grabbi provided the spark that was missing in a rousing finale.

Rovers started brightly enough as Alan Mahon's free-kick was booted off the line by Gareth Southgate.

But Johansson then misjudged Mark Crossley's long clearance and it took a smart save from John Filan to deny Nemeth an opener.

That acted as a wake-up call and Rovers broke the deadlock themselves in the 31st minute.

Curtis fed Garry Flitcroft with a clever ball inside and, from the skipper's radar-like cross, Hignett beat Crossley with an emphatic header at the far post after cleverly escaping the attentions of Ugo Ehiogu.

Within eight minutes, however, Boro were back on level terms when dangerman Nemeth swapped passes with Mark Wilson on the edge of the box before firing past Filan with the aid of a deflection.

And, astonishingly, they could have gone in in front at the interval but Robbie Stockdale somehow fired wide with only Filan to beat.

The opening quarter of an hour after the break followed a similar pattern as Nemeth missed two golden chances to claim his second of the night and Ehiogu screwed another effort wide after more panic in the Rovers defence.

That prompted Souness to take action as Grabbi, Jansen and Tugay were all introduced from the bench, triggering an immediate improvement.

Johnson, Grabbi and Jansen all went close to a winner before Boro survived an almighty goal-mouth scramble in the 88th minute in which Crossley made three point-blank saves and a fourth effort was headed off the line.

So to extra-time and within 30 seconds of the restart Filan denied Nemeth with a reflex stop after the Slovakian had ripped through the centre again.

And that ultimately proved crucial as Rovers conjured up a winner of their own with penalties looming.

Hignett swung over a corner from the left, the ball broke to Johnson at the back post who centred for Short to score with a header which struck Robbie Mustoe before finding the net.

RESULT: ROVERS... 2 MIDDLESBROUGH... 1 (after extra time)

Full-time 1-1

Hignett 31, Short 113

Nemeth 39