FA Cup final 2011 - City end long victory drought

MANCHESTER CITY’s 35 year trophy drought ended yesterday, as they beat Stoke City 1-0 in the FA Cup final at Wembley.  City’s semi-final hero Yaya Toure scored the only goal in the 74^th minute to break Stoke’s resistance in an intriguing final, though hardly a classic to be remembered.

     Stoke were taking part in their first ever FA Cup final, whilst City last made it this far back in 1981.  Therefore, it was a surprising final for many and unfortunately, the game never lived up to its pre-match billing.  Tony Pulis side were very poor in the first half and thanks to some great goalkeeping from Thomas Sorensen and wasteful City finishing, they held onto a 0-0 scoreline at half-time.  Both Carlos Tevez and man-of-the-match Mario Balotelli were denied by the exploits of Sorensen, who has been Stoke’s FA Cup goalkeeper all season.  The Potters were organised and very resolute, but sadly, not much more.  The best chance of the first half was missed by the off-colour David Silva.  Balotelli’s brilliant movement ten minutes before half-time set the chance up and although the Spanish World Cup winner approached it at an awkward height, he basically missed a sitter by his high standards. 

     At times, the final threatened to get out of hand into a very bitty occasion.  Two poor challenges from Robert Huth in the first half meant the German was very lucky to stay on the pitch by half-time.  Either side of the interval and Jermaine Pennant was the victim of two bruising challenges, which limited his impact.  With Matthew Etherington forced off on the hour mark, having picked up a recurrence of the hamstring injury that he first picked up against Wolves 18 days ago, Stoke’s threat, particularly on the wings was severely limited.  Toure went onto to make the right headlines, but even the Ivorian was lucky to still be on the field by the time he scored the decisive goal.  A very bad challenge on Andy Wilkinson which looked malicious and with some form of intent was the climax of a very scrappy and spicy start to the second half. 

CHANCE: Stoke's golden chance was blown by Kenwyne Jones

     Stoke’s best chance to win the FA Cup final came just before Etherington’s enforced departure.  His beautifully-flighted ball over the top found Kenwyne Jones.  Jones managed to escape the clutches of Joleon Lescott, but Joe Hart stood tall, and made a critical save.  At this point, Roberto Mancini elected to make a bold move.  He sacrificed one of his holding players; Gareth Barry, for the more attack-minded Adam Johnson and the extra aggression in the final third soon paid dividends.  Yet again, Balotelli was in the heart of the move.  His shot, after some clever skill was blocked by Ryan Shawcross and following another minor deflection, the ball fell perfectly to Toure, who produced a cracking drive to break the deadlock.  It was a strike that left Sorensen with absolutely no chance.  Despite sending Shawcross forward as an emergency striker and Sorensen for corners, Stoke’s late bombardment on the City goal ultimately came to nothing.

    The rise of Manchester City continues and it is a fitting tribute to Neil Young.  Young, who scored the winning goal the last time the blue side of Manchester won the FA Cup, in 1969, died in February.  Goalkeeper Hart insisted that Manchester United’s earlier title success at Ewood Park meant nothing to hinder the celebrations; “We don’t care about Man U.  This is about Man City and the players and the fans, we deserved to win.”  Losing manager Pulis accepted the result with good grace.  He told ITV; “We’ve had a great season, but ultimately we dropped off today.  The best side won.” 

ALOFT: Tevez lifts the FA Cup for Manchester City

      The 1976 League Cup was the last time Manchester City lifted a major domestic trophy and on the week when they also won qualification into next season’s Champions League, this will go down as a week to remember for all City fans.  Ultimately, they were the stronger and better outfit throughout and deserved the win.  It was left to Carlos Tevez, only the third overseas captain after Eric Cantona and Patrick Vieira to lift the FA Cup aloft.  Whilst Stoke played their part in a largely forgettable final, it was a Blue Day at Wembley yesterday and anything is possible from here for the rich-spenders.  This could be the start of something big and there is no doubt now, that the whole of the football world must sit-up and take notice.