Sport
Didier Drogba match winner as Chelsea beats Liverpool 2-1 to win FA Cup
Liverpool gifted Chelsea the opener after a pair of mistakes. Jay Spearing initially gave the ball away in midfield to Juan Mata, who set Ramires free to charge toward the Liverpool goal.
Goalkeeper Pepe Reina was beaten too easily at his near post by Ramires when a shot was deflected in by the goalie’s knee.
It was a reflection of a shoddy first-half performance from Liverpool, which struggled to break through a Chelsea back four including Ashley Cole, who went on to win his seventh FA Cup final, with the first three coming at Arsenal.
Despite scoring the semifinal winner and being Liverpool’s most expensive player, Carroll was dropped in favor of Luis Suarez up front, but the isolated striker struggled to make an impact.
Carroll, though, netted after just 10 minutes on the pitch to make it 2-1.
Stewart Downing’s tenacity down the left flank paid off, challenging Boswinga before the ball fell to Carroll to lash it into the net.
“Until they scored it was very, very comfortable,” Lampard said. “They bombarded us and it was hard to deal with.”
But Chelsea clung on to win the world’s oldest knockout competition for a seventh time.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press
