The 26-year-old Austria international will lead the Teessiders at Everton on Sunday, after helping them reach the last eight for the fourth successive season.

But he will do so with his club languishing inside the Barclays Premier League drop zone, and even their own fans fearing the worst.

That, of course, is exactly the fate which befell Boro back in 1997 when they reached the finals of both domestic cup competitions but were relegated - despite the presence of Juninho, Fabrizio Ravanelli and Emerson at the Riverside Stadium.

Pogatetz insists the events of 12 years ago cannot be allowed to colour the club's thinking this time around - and while he admits his side face a major fight for top-flight survival, he is adamant the chance to reach an FA Cup semi-final is not one they can afford to ignore.

He said: "That's not what we are thinking about. Of course, the threat of relegation is there - and has been for quite a long time.

"But also, we have to think about how we can get out of there - and not if the club has been in a lower division before or not.

"We know that nearly every club has been relegated once, and hope we can avoid it this season.

"We can benefit from the cup competition; we can get confidence out of this cup competition, and it's great for the supporters and the club that we are actually playing for a trophy.

"It's good for us and for the club that we are still in the competition, and it is something we can be proud of."

Boro gave themselves a massive shot in the arm last weekend when against all the odds, they secured a deserved 2-0 win over title-chasing Liverpool - only to throw away the chance of establishing a momentum just at the right time when they were trounced 4-0 at Tottenham four days later.

However, Pogatetz remains confident that they can scrap their way to safety - just as they have done in manager Gareth Southgate's previous two seasons at the helm.

He said: "No one expected us to win our last 11 games of the season.

"Okay, we had a bad defeat at Tottenham. But at the end of the day, it's just one defeat - and there are still a lot of games to play.

"I am still confident we can get out of the position we are in."

Boro's cup form has been in stark contrast to that which they have produced in the league as they have edged their way past non-league Barrow, Premier League aspirants Wolves and after a replay, West Ham.

However, they are still haunted by the one that got away last season when, after seeing the path to the final open up invitingly, they succumbed to Coca-Cola Championship Cardiff at the Riverside at the same stage to pave the way for the Welsh club to set up a Wembley meeting with eventual winners Portsmouth.

Pogatetz said: "The Cardiff defeat still hurts. We all know we missed a great opportunity last season to maybe go on and win the cup.

"Now we have reached the same stage again. Of course, Everton on paper will be a lot harder to beat than Cardiff would have been.

"But Cardiff showed they could beat maybe a better team, and maybe we can beat Everton as well.

"They are up the table, and we are down there - and everyone would expect them to win.

"Maybe we can do the same as Cardiff did to us last season and get through to the next round."