DID you hear the one about the football team which scored 15 goals and still lost a League Cup tie? There’s a pretty good chance that by now you have, but in years to come that could well appear on a pub quiz somewhere across the country.

The answer is Middlesbrough after eventually losing the marathon penalty shoot-out with Liverpool at Anfield on Tuesday night, which has only increased the confidence and mood on Teesside as the club refocuses its attentions on the main seasonal aim: promotion.

After 90 demanding minutes of Capital One Cup action, a tense and exciting two periods of extra-time and more than 20 minutes of shoot-out drama in front of the Kop, Boro’s drained players were back at Rockliffe Park yesterday for a warm down.

Aitor Karanka, the manager, has given his squad a day off today in the hope they will be refreshed and ready to go again when they travel south to Charlton tomorrow.

It is safe to assume, though, that whatever happens at The Valley, it is unlikely to compare to losing 14-13 on penalties having held Premier League runners-up Liverpool to a 2-2 draw after two hours of cup football.

Middlesbrough defender Kenneth Omeruo was one of the 27 (out of 30) successful kickers on Tuesday night and is still coming to terms with the events on Merseyside.

“I have never knowing anything like what happened, it was my first penalty shoot-out that I have been involved in as a player; my first one and I can’t believe it ended like that! “ said Omeruo.

“It’s not a bad way to lose against a Champions League team though, so we are happy with the performance. I can’t believe there were 30 penalties? It was absolutely crazy. I can’t imagine I will ever be involved in penalties like that again.

“It was unlucky for Albert (Adomah) to be the man to miss the last one. He played really well and it happens. We got to the stage where everyone was just going up and scoring, so it could have happened to any of us. It happened to Albert and we had to go over and encourage him because it could have been me, or anyone else.”

As Middlesbrough’s players left the Anfield pitch, even the stunned Liverpool fans applauded the Championship team off the pitch out of respect, knowing how close that Karanka’s men had ran Brendan Rodgers’ expensively assembled outfit.

It is not every visiting team which demands such a reaction from the Kop, but it was an indication of just how well Middlesbrough played against a Reds team still struggling to come to terms with life without Luis Suarez.

Omeruo said: “It was a great atmosphere and we had great support from the Boro fans too. It was strange after the penalties. We gave everything, even when we were a goal down we kept going. Everyone was fighting, we showed great commitment throughout the game.

“It was a great game, we just came up short. The manager told us how proud he is of us, he wants us to play like this in the league and if we can then we will go up to the Premier League.”

Achieving promotion has been Middlesbrough’s primary target ever since they suffered relegation in 2009. This time around, though, the vibes are different and there is genuinely a feeling that Karanka has the squad capable of fulfilling that goal.

Omeruo added: “But we can’t just think about what happened at Liverpool, that’s gone. We have to focus quickly on Charlton and recover quickly. Nothing has been achieved, even though the game at Anfield was incredible to be part of.”

Middlesbrough played well throughout and posed a threat to the Liverpool defence. When Omeruo, who has shown his quality at the back almost every time he has played for Boro, and goalkeeper Jamal Blackman got in a muddle in the 11th minute there must have been fears of an easy night for the home side.

But Blackman, guilty of making it easy for Jordan Rossiter to score the opener after racing out of goal without dealing with the ball properly, somehow regained his composure and made a number of saves in normal time. He also saved Raheem Sterling’s penalty to force the shoot-out in to sudden death.

Omeruo, a Chelsea team-mate of Blackman, thinks the young England Under-21 goalkeeper showed his quality, even if Dimi Konstantopoulos is likely to be recalled at Charlton.

“I think Jamal did great after that early goal,” said the Nigerian defender. “He made a couple of saves and was really confident to come and meet the ball, hold the ball. He was calm throughout.

“Jamal has a really bright future. Weaker characters might have been affected for the rest of the game after that, but he actually came out of the game with a really good performance. Immediately after the goal we said that it was a mistake between both of us, but I am happy the way he went on from there.”