MARK Hughes is more confident than ever that his team can carry off the Carling Cup.

He led his side to the semi-final with a 1-0 victory at Middlesborough last night and even a semi-final pairing with Manchester United isn't denting the Blackburn boss's confidence.

Paul Dickov grabbed a 90th minute winner for Rovers, but it was no more than they deserved for a performance that only boosted Hughes's belief in his side's ability to go all the way.

"A lot of good teams would have struggled to match us on that performance," said Hughes.

"So it doesn't matter who we've got in the semi-final - it's over two legs and is great opportunity for us.

"We were excellent from start to finish. I thought we dominated and looked really strong and powerful throughout the game.

"The only concern was the amount of chances that we failed to take and when that happens you wonder if you are going to get a reward for your efforts, but we kept going and looked really strong in the latter part of the game.

"We placed great significance on this competition right from the off. I've picked strong teams in every round and thankfully that policy has been born out.

"We're in the semi-finals, which is the least we wanted to get to. We got to the FA Cup semi-final last year and enjoyed the experience but we want to go a step further this year."

This is, in fact, the fourth time Rovers have reached a semi-final in the past five seasons.

The only time they have progressed, however, was on the first of those occasions when they went on to win the League Cup in 2002.

The following year, Manchester United knocked them out of the same competition in the two-legged semi-0final and last season they crashed 3-0 to Arsenal in the FA Cup.

But even in the eight months since then, Hughes reckons his side has improved enough to emulate the achievements of the winning Millennium Stadium team he was part of four years ago.

He added: "We are a different type of team, we are a lot stronger and a lot fitter than we were and I think that showed tonight. Physically we looked really dominant and the passing we showed on the night was good and crisp and we created chances. The only concern was that we didn't covert as many as we should have."

Controversy did flare up in last night's tie after Robbie Savage was booked for a foul on Boro's Emanuel Pogatetz.

The Austrian defender than appeared to spit at Savage, who turned away holding his face.

But Hughes insisted: "The lad came up and shouted something to him and maybe something flew out of his mouth. But to say that he was spat at is a little bit strong so we're not going to make an issue out of it because we wouldn't want that to overshadow a great night for Blackburn Rovers."