Notts County send Middlesbrough packing

Tcham N'Toya's first goal for Notts County dumped Barclays Premiership Middlesbrough out of the Carling Cup as the League Two side pulled off a second-round shock with a 1-0 victory.

The 22-year-old capitalised on a mistake by full-back Tony McMahon to smash home a 26th-minute winner and leave the bulk of a crowd of just 11,148 less than satisfied.

County, lying sixth in their division, achieved their famous victory despite making seven changes to the side which won 3-2 at Barnet at the weekend.

The defeat made for another disappointing night on Teesside for Boro boss Gareth Southgate, who fielded a strong side despite making wholesale changes.

Skipper Mark Viduka, debutant Robert Huth - who ended the game playing as a makeshift striker - and defender Stuart Parnaby all went close to an equaliser, but the home side could have little argument with the outcome.

The Carling Cup, of course, gave Boro the first trophy in their history and a maiden voyage into Europe in 2004 and as such, the competition retains a place in the hearts of all connected with the club.

However, Southgate, the man who lifted the cup in Cardiff that day, insists the Premiership is his number one priority and with that in mind, he made eight changes to the side which drew at Bolton at the weekend.

There may have been no Jonathan Woodgate, no Aiyegbeni Yakubu and no Stewart Downing, but there was a senior debut for £6million signing Huth with Spanish superstar Gaizka Mendieta, Australia's World Cup captain Viduka and £8.15million striker Massimo Maccarone in the starting line-up.

But there were boos from a sparse crowd at the Riverside Stadium and red faces as the Teessiders walked off at half-time trailing and knowing things might have been even worse.

County started confidently, but rarely looked like troubling keeper Ross Turnbull until handed the chance to do so by McMahon's 26th-minute error.

The full-back's weak header fell perfectly for Democratic Republic of Congo striker N'Toya, who promptly blasted it past Turnbull.

It might have been 2-0 within three minutes when defender Steve Hunt volleyed Ian Ross' cross over the bar to hand the Premiership side a reprieve.

County keeper Saul Deeney had to pull off a fine save to deny Viduka a 38th-minute equaliser, and the Australian fired into the side-netting on the stroke of half-time, but there was discontent among the natives when the break arrived.

Mendieta should have put Boro on level terms four minutes after the restart after a mix-up in the visitors' defence left him with just Deeney to beat, but he skied his shot high over.

Viduka delivered an overhead kick into Deeney's arms on 53 minutes as the home side started to dominate, but with the equaliser still eluding his side, Southgate sent on winger James Morrison in place of McMahon eight minutes later.

But Lawrie Dudfield scuffed a 64th-minute volley wide after Austin McCann and Ross had carved Boro open once again, and N'Toya saw a header drop wide after he beat Turnbull to a Gary Silk cross 18 minutes from time.

Huth saw a 77th-minute header hacked off the line as County were forced to defend for their lives, and Hunt got in a superb challenge to deny substitute Jason Euell with four minutes remaining.

But Parnaby squandered a glorious opportunity to square it with two minutes remaining after the visitors' defence had failed to deal with Huth's flick-on, the full-back hammering his shot over with just Deeney to beat.

And the County keeper pulled off a remarkable save from Huth at point-blank range three minutes into injury-time to seal an unlikely win.