Late Drogba goal wins Cup

The Ivorian finished coolly from ten yards after exchanging a one-two with Frank Lampard to break the hearts of the travelling fans from Lancashire.

The match began with much expectation, but the starting line-ups revealed cagey formations for both sides with Wayne Rooney and Drogba expected to lead their respective lines alone.

When – as has happened in so many other matches - the opposition leaves space for these clubs to attack, players such as Ryan Giggs, Cristiano Ronaldo, Shaun Wright-Phillips and Joe Cole can be devastating from the wide positions while Frank Lampard and Paul Scholes in particular are to be feared down the centre.

However both managers had evidently warned their charges of the potential damage to be incurred from kamikaze attacking and they certainly took it to heart. There were long periods of passing between defence and midfield from both sets of players, with half-hearted forages forward from the wide players.

Ronaldo did not see much of the ball from his wide-left position while Giggs often found himself crowded when he picked it up.

Rooney was put through on goal three times by Scholes, only for the offside flag to deny him on each occasion. To his embarrassment he shot anyway following two of them, slamming the ball well wide.

The most dangerous moment of the entire half occurred on 22 minutes. Premiership top-scorer Drogba received the ball inside the Man United half and set off running before unleashing a dipping shot that beat Edwin van der Sar all ends up but was half-a-yard wide of the far post.

Lampard found space in the area following good work by Paulo Ferreira as the right back made a rare run into the United final third. He managed to shoot low and on-target, saved by Van der Sar. Minutes later the England midfielder struck a shot from the left this time that beat the goalie but was a yard over the crossbar and came back off the middle stanchion behind the goal.

United worked their way into opposition territory as Ronaldo and Rooney battled for the ball; when it came to Giggs his low cross in towards the six-yard box was cleared easily.

Both managers must have had a fair amount to say to their players at the break and it showed when they returned for the second half. There was a 15-minute spell where both outfits looked to attack and score the crucial first goal.

Rooney began things for United with an ambitious drive from distance which was saved by Cech. As Giggs followed up, the flag went up on the touchline.

The young Liverpudlian twice marauded down the left to almost find a goal for his side, denied at the last by Michael Essien – the midfielder forced to deputise for injured Ricardo Carvalho.

Scholes again used his unique lofted diagonal pass to find Giggs stealing in behind and the Welshman's volley was just over the top; it caused more than a flutter of nerves in the Blue end.

Chelsea refused to sit back on their laurels and Lampard won a free-kick on the corner of the box. Drogba struck it cunningly around the ball and off the base of the post and wide.

The flurry of excitement came to an end almost as soon as it had arrived and so we entered extra time.

There were changes on both sides, mainly in attacking positions, though it was someone on the pitch from the start – and captain for the day in the absence of the crocked Gary Neville – who had the best chance to settle the match before Drogba scored.

Giggs managed to get ahead of his markers as Rooney took the ball down the right-hand side; when the centre arrived he had the goal at his mercy from six yards out, but as he slid, did not connect cleanly – and Cech smothered the ball. Giggs bundled into the shot-stopper and the ball crept over the line, but it could not in good conscience be described as a goal.

In the second half of extra time, Salomon Kalou approached the goal as Ferdinand backed off and curled a shot just wide before Drogba's decisive action.

Kalou should have put Drogba in with ten seconds left of the three minutes added on at the death - Chelsea boss Mourinho was understandably furious - but opted to shoot, blazing over.

It did not matter as the final whistle sounded soon after. It was the first time that Mourinho had won the FA Cup, and completed a cup-double for his team this season; something that might just soften the blow of the loss to Sir Alex Ferguson in the Premiership.