TEESSIDE had waited nine years for an occasion like this. Once the celebrations had died down and the hangovers have eased this morning, Middlesbrough’s fans only have to wait nine days for the next.

There will be plenty more exciting fixtures to whet the appetite next season if Aitor Karanka’s Riverside revolution continues successfully under the Wembley arch a week on Monday.

But not since the incredible night in 2006 when Steve McClaren watched Massimo Maccarone seal a UEFA Cup spot by completing a remarkable comeback over the Romanians, Steaua Bucharest, has there been a party quite like it by the River Tees.

After thousands of supporters had cleared the pitch and a clutch had carried the brilliant Albert Adomah to the tunnel, the pubs and clubs along Linthorpe Road will have been rammed and deafened to the tune of Que Sera Sera.

It is almost time for Middlesbrough’s fans to walk down Wembley Way tucking in to cheesy chips rather than heading away from Shepherdson Way eating a parmo.

There was an air of expectation and anticipation long before the first whistle had even been blown last night. As the players warmed up in a stadium that was pretty full well before kick-off, the atmosphere grew and grew in to a crescendo to coincide with the thousands of red and white cards that were held aloft in the North Stand.

The message was simple: #Believe. Believe they did and when Lee Tomlin curled in his brilliantly precise right-foot opener from 20 yards in the 23rd minute, the number of believers continued to grow.

There were a couple of rare scares, like when Andre Gray came within inches of converting Moses Odubajo’s low cross shortly after half-time. But this was Middlesbrough’s night. There was not the drama of the night when Steaua were beaten, but that did not matter. Nor did anyone care. It was all about finishing off the job started so effectively at Griffin Park a week earlier.

That is exactly what Boro did. Like so often this season, Karanka’s tactics were carried out to a tee to book a first Wembley appearance since 1998.

Karanka, suited and booted in his technical area for the vast majority of the 90 minutes, seems to have been born for the biggest of stages and the former Real Madrid player was a picture of composure and intent throughout; just as he was at Anfield, the Etihad and the Emirates earlier in the season.

That composure did eventually turn to excitement and satisfaction, starting when Kike ripped off his shirt and headed his way to celebrate the second goal of the night ten minutes after half-time.

Kike’s calm and clinically taken second gave Middlesbrough the extra cushion required. At that stage, Karanka could start to truly believe that the Wembley dream was about to come true as he jumped in to the arms of his backroom team.

The adored chairman who appointed him, Steve Gibson, kicked every ball in the directors’ box and had barely broken a smile until Adomah added the third with 12 minutes remaining. This remains Gibson’s project. It always was, dating back to the days when he stunned the Premier League by appointing Bryan Robson in 1994 to better times to Teesside.

The self-made millionaire must have wondered whether such occasions would ever return to the stadium he brought to the area after spending the last six seasons outside the top-flight.

A guaranteed Premier League return is another 90 minutes of football away – at least – but for now the excitement and the planning for a first appearance at new Wembley can go on.

Under Karanka there have already been twists and turns, highs and lows and the biggest of those will surely arrive when Middlesbrough come up against Norwich or Ipswich on Bank Holiday Monday.

But, for now, what counts is that the dream of bringing Premier League football back to Teesside lives on. The scenes of celebration and the noise reverberating around the Riverside long after the final whistle suggests an overwhelming confidence that the task can be completed next week.

Gibson will have known a lot more about Mark Warburton’s Brentford than Karanka did back in August, but it could soon be facing Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea at Stamford Bridge rather than getting to Griffin Park that Middlesbrough are thinking about next season.