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. 

FA Barclays Premiership Report (6th - 7th November)

WITH three sets of matches in seven days, the Premiership is starting to take shape.  Here is a round-up of the weekend’s action, which saw a brilliant weekend for the North West clubs, but a disaster for London’s finest.

Sunday 7^th November: Liverpool 2-0 Chelsea

FERNANDO Torres returned to his world class best, as the Liverpool revival continued, sending Chelsea crashing to only their second Premiership loss of the season.  Torres first goal on 11 minutes was all about control and strength, shaking off John Terry after Dirk Kuyt played him through.  The Spaniard was a man reborn and his second strike, a magnificent curling effort past a stranded Petr Cech confirmed his return.  Chelsea did batter Liverpool in the second half, but with Didier Drogba having been left on the bench, this was a day to forget for the former runaway leaders.

Saturday 6^th November: Manchester United 2-1 Wolves

THE late show happened again at Old Trafford, as Wolves were denied a deserved draw by Ji-Sung Park.  The Korean opened the scoring in the first half, which will be remembered for the disastrous comeback by Owen Hargreaves.  776 days since his last first-team appearance, his comeback only lasted seven minutes, due to a pulled hamstring.  Mick McCarthy made an inspired substitution in the second half, bringing on Sylvain Ebanks-Blake.  Moments later, he had equalised at the Stretford End.  Wolves’ commitment and intent on attacking certainly impressed the neutrals, but they were robbed of their point by Park’s scuffed strike in stoppage time, that creped past Marcus Hahnemann.

Sunday 7^th November: Arsenal 0-1 Newcastle United

ANDY Carroll can’t seem to keep out of the headlines at the moment, and his header put a huge dent in Arsenal’s title chances.  Whilst Newcastle defended brilliantly and Tim Krul had to be at his best to deny Alex Song, Lukasz Fabianski made a meal of Joey Barton’s free-kick on the stroke of half-time and allowed Carroll to out jump him and score his sixth goal of the season.  Basic elementary errors from Arsenal defensively cost them on Sunday, summed up by Laurent Koscieny’s late dismissal for bringing down Nile Ranger, the Gunners fourth red card of the season.  The home supporters booed their players off the pitch, whilst the Magpies now proudly sit in fifth spot in the Premiership table.

Saturday 6^th November: Bolton Wanderers 4-2 Tottenham Hotspur

BOLTON brought Spurs down to earth after their midweek high in the Champions League.  Kevin Davies scored twice, as Tottenham’s miserable record of no wins at the Reebok in Premiership history continued.  After Davies scored the solitary goal of the first half, Gareth Bale hit the bar with a free-kick.  Gretar Steinsson doubled the lead, and Bolton’s physical dominance was highlighted when Benoit Assou-Ekotto fouled Lee in the penalty area.  Davies tucked away the spot kick with ease, infront of Fabio Capello.  Alan Hutton’s curler and a bullet volley by Roman Pavyluchenko gave Spurs hope in the last ten minutes, before Martin Petrov came off the bench, to seal the points on a counter-attack in time added on.  To add to Tottenham’s woes, Tom Huddlestone is likely to face further action from the FA, after a deliberate and malicious stamp on Johan Elmander.

Sunday 7^th November: West Brom 0-2 Manchester City

MARIO Balotelli showed his good, bad and ugly side, as Manchester City ended their run of three successive defeats.  Balotelli’s first two goals in Manchester City colours came in the first 26 minutes.  The first was a simple tap-in from three yards out, after an acute cutback from Carlos Tevez.  His second was precise, capitalising on poor Albion defending to slot a low drive past Scott Carson infront of the Italian coach Cesare Prandelli.  After the restart, he lost his head and a childish kick-out at Yusuf Mulumbu saw him get a straight red card.  City has appealed the decision.  Mulumbu was also sent off for a second yellow, after a crude and silly challenge on Tevez.  West Brom’s 11-month home unbeaten run is over then, on a comfortable afternoon for the under-fire Roberto Mancini.

Saturday 6^th November: Sunderland 2-0 Stoke City

WHEN Darren Bent went down with flu on Saturday morning, Steve Bruce must have been wondering just where the goals were going to come from.  Step forward Sunderland’s record signing Asamoah Gyan – who scored twice.  Steed Malbranque also had a first half penalty saved by Asmir Begovic, but the scoreline doesn’t tell the full story.  Stoke’s rotten luck of refereeing decisions continued when Kenwyne Jones’s header from a Roy Delap might have gone across the line.  However, Lee Cattermole blatantly handled the ball, so a stonewall penalty was denied.  Seconds later, Martin Atkinson’s eyesight went again when Jones had another header that looked to have crossed the line.  Ryan Shawcross’s harsh red card for two challenges on Danny Wellbeck compounded Tony Pulis misery.  Atkinson may need to go to Specsavers after this horror show!

Saturday 6^th November: Birmingham City 2-2 West Ham United

DAVID Gold’s comments about Birmingham meant the West Ham co-owner was banned from returning to his former ground.  When the sprinklers went on in a dire first half, any neutral could predict that the goals would rain down in the second half.  Frederic Piquionne and Valon Behrami put the Hammers 2-0 at St. Andrews, but the home side fought back brilliantly and Cameron Jerome pulled a goal back.  When Robert Green spilled Sebastian Larsson’s free-kick, Liam Ridgewell completed the brilliant fightback.  This was a missed opportunity for West Ham to climb off the foot of the table.

Saturday 6^th November: Blackpool 2-2 Everton

HAVING helped the Tangerines gain promotion last season, Seamus Coleman returned to Bloomfield Road and scored his first senior goal for Everton, as these teams shared the spoils.  Neal Eardley opened the scoring with a brilliant free-kick, which was quickly cancelled out by a trademark Tim Cahill header, his 50^th Premiership goal.  DJ Campbell put Blackpool back infront, despite seemingly handling the ball in the build-up, before Coleman drew the teams’ level again.  Both sides had chances to win all three points, but Louis Saha missed a great chance and Marlon Harewood had a late goal chalked off for a debatable push on Phil Neville.

Saturday 6^th November: Fulham 1-1 Aston Villa

ASTON VILLA wasted chance after chance at Craven Cottage and can only blame themselves for not leaving West London with all three points.  Marc Albrighton ended their barren scoring drought in the first half, but Brede Hangeland equalised in the 95^th minute, to rescue an undeserved point for a surprisingly subdued Fulham side.

Saturday 6^th November: Blackburn Rovers 2-1 Wigan Athletic

BLACKBURN moved out of the bottom three and dumped Wigan into the drop zone in their place.  Mortem Gamst Pedersen floated a free-kick in, and Jason Roberts – who didn’t have a squad number at the start of the season put Rovers 2-0 up.  Charles N’Zogbia did score a brilliant free-kick, but it was too little, too late for Roberto Martinez’s side at Ewood Park.