He did, however, create the best chance of the 120 minutes, with the slide-rule pass from wide on the left that was met with a slapdash finish by Ravanelli. The Dane, who had carried a knee injury from the early stages against Leicester, served bench-duty until the final minute of the goalless draw at Upton Park on Wednesday as Robson packed his midfield and asked Ravanelli to forage in not-so- splendid isolation up front. This afternoon, faced by Second Division opponents, and anxious to avoid the complication of another replay, Robson is certain to restore Beck to his line-up.His other imports might have stolen the limelight this season but Robson would probably agree that just as it is fair to say that Boro play when Juninho plays, the same dictum applies with Beck. He may not quite be a finisher in the Ravanelli class (ignoring the Italian's Wembley sitter) or a schemer from the Juninho finishing school, but the Danish international has emerged in a central role in the fluid game Middlesbrough strive to play. That much was clear to the discerning eye when Boro clinched their semi-final place.

Craig Hignett was the direct supplier of Juninho's brilliant breakthrough goal at the Baseball Ground. But Beck was the architect, with his perceptive diagonal decoy run."It's super for a player like me to play with someone like Juninho," he said. "I'd call myself a playing striker - I want to play for the others. I look to combine with them." Beck fulfils a similar function off the field, as the multi-linguist in Robson's multinational force "I love it here," he said. "There was a lot of criticism earlier in the season but I never took it to heart I am just happy to be here and happy to play for the team For the rest of the season we only have big games That's what it's all about That's what we're living for. "Beck, 23, has good reason to relish his working life down at the Riverside.

A year ago he was playing in the Bundesliga Second Division with Fortuna Cologne and his subsequent move from the shadows of German football to the spotlight in England was not an easy one. He spent five months in contractual limbo last year fighting for his right to join Middlesbrough. He was held hostage by the Deutsche Fussball-Bund's attempt to counter the Bosman ruling by invoking an item of small-print stipulating a club's right to automatically extend a player's contract by another season in the event of a change in the transfer system. Fortuna refused to allow Beck to join Middlesbrough until his lawyers claimed damages and costs approaching pounds 2m."Those five months were a nightmare," he reflected "It was like living in jail. All I wanted to do was play for Middlesbrough."Moving to the Premiership has kept Beck in the thoughts of Bo Johansson, Denmark's Swedish coach.

Beck played in Euro 96 and has joined a strong contingent of Danish squad members in England, with Peter Schmeichel at Manchester United, Marc Rieper at West Ham, Allan Nielsen at Spurs and Jacob Laursen at Derby "English football is a special thing in Denmark," he said. "A Premiership game is shown live on television every Saturday and all of the newspapers report about English football."Beck is not the first player from his town to make it on to the small screen back home via England. Jan Molby is another footballing son of Kolding and the only Dane who has played in three FA Cup finals He was not the first, however That honour fell to Jesper Olsen back in 1985. Bryan Robson left Wembley clutching the tin pot on that occasion. He might be doing so with Danish assistance again on 17 May.. 17 November First round Chesterfield 1 Bury 0Chesterfield's history of long Cup runs is like Liz Taylor's record of long marriages For us it never seems to work.