Well I think that took another couple of years off my life. Add this to last years European Final and by my reckoning, I should have snuffed it last February. It would have been worth it though – absolutely fantastic!



FIRST HALF

The game started fairly slowly and for the first twenty minutes there was nothing to suggest we were about to witness one of the best finals in many years. In this twenty minutes, I think we had the ball for about 19 of them but seemed to do very little with it.
Then Alonso gave the ball away cheaply (not for the first time yesterday) to Ashton who found Scaloni on the right who drove in a low cross.


Carragher saw the danger and also saw Reina sliding out to meet it. He got his right leg out of the way only for the ball to hit his left and slide in inches from the post.


Worse was to come within 7 minutes when once again we lost possession easily, a couple of swift passes later and Etherington is skipping past Hyypia and sends a low shot just behind the despairing dives of both Carra and Gerrard.

Not that its much of an excuse but these despairing dives may have left Reina a little unsighted as the ball left his foot. Even so it should have been a pretty standard save for Pepe to make. But somehow he made a right hash of it and it seemed to skip off his shoulder. Ashton who had the presence of mind to follow in the shot must have thought it was Christmas and toe-poked the ball under the keeper and hit the net.


0-2 down inside the half hour.
Still plenty of time and if we could get an early goal. And we thought we’d done just that 3 minutes later when Gerrard took a quick free kick and curled the ball into Crouch who finish brilliantly. Relief – but only for about 5 seconds when we all realised that, as ever, the officials erred on the side of the defence and stuck the flag in the air. Watching it live, it looked a clear goal and the replays since confirm that he was in no way in front of the defender when Gerrard whipped it in.


We still desperately needed a goal before half time and there was nothing to be gained from bemoaning that shite decision. Luckily we only had 2 minutes to wait. Again Gerrard was the provider and this time it was Cisse who was the recipient. Like Crouch, he was behind the defender when the ball was played and like Crouch, Cisse finished fantastically with a low volley inside Hislops left hand upright.


Liverpool were on top between then and the half time whistle and both Cisse and Gerrard forced Hislop into making a couple of decent saves.


SECOND HALF

If we thought this was a sign that the second half would be easier for us then we couldn’t have been more wrong. Within seconds of the re-start Reina was called upon to make a double block with his legs from Harewood and Benayoun.


Kewell only lasted 3 minutes of the second half, after apparently pulling up sharply in the tunnel with a groin strain. To be honest both he looked out of sorts all game and my guess is he was carrying a strain even at the start. Morientes replaced him and Liverpool got on with the job of trying to pull it level. They did just that in the 54 minute when Gerrard scored again in a cup final.
This was the fifth consecutive final in which he has scored.

In a decent build up, Crouch nodded the ball down to the edge of the box where Stevie hammered the ball from 13 yards into the top right of Hislop’s net.


At that point the crowd around me relaxed and I think we all thought it would be plain sailing from there. But to West Ham’s immense credit, they kept their heads up and went immediately back on the attack.
On 64 minutes the ball made its way out to the left hand side to Konchesky, who took it on and looked to cross the ball deep to the far post.

Reina’s reaction suggested he immediately knew he was in trouble and the cross may well drift over him into the net – which is exactly what happened.


All around there was now a serious dip in belief – but only a dip. For all West Ham’s lead, we were still the side who looked more capable of scoring.
This was tempered slightly in the 68th minute when I think Benetiz looked like he was about to make a big error.

He was clearly readying Kromkamp to replace Crouch, yet Crouch was playing well and Cisse already looked like he was showing signs of fatigue. However just as the swap was due to be made Alonso signalled that he could go on no longer and so it was he that made way for Kromkamp.
To be honest I was slightly relieved. Xabi had clearly been nursing that injury picked up in the last league game of the season and was not his normal brilliant self at any point in the game.

Follow up:

My relief was short lived when just 3 minutes later Crouch was taken off for Hamann. In that 3 minutes Cisse had grabbed at his calf at least a couple of times and yet it was Crouch who left the pitch!


I'm not saying anything against Cisse, who I thought had a decent enough game, but he was clearly showing signs of fatigue whereas Crouch wasn’t. Still who the hell am I to question Benitez?


We surged forward but to be honest seemed to be lacking any cutting edge with the West Ham defence, particularly the impressive Gabbidon, holding on quite comfortably.

As the 90th minute approached its end and we were all waiting for the board to go up telling how much time we had left another Liverpool attack seemed to be broken up when the ball was moved out of the West Ham net.


Thank God then that it made its way to Gerrard who let fly with a shot that must rank as the best FA cup goal ever (though I suppose some Spurs fans may disagree). It really was incredible, from over 30 yards out and with a clear view of it Hislop could get nowhere near it.


Surely that would be it and we’d get no more twists. Yet at the very end of the game the ref gave a very generous free kick on the edge of our box for no apparent reason. The way the game had gone I have to admit I thought they’d score. But a decent free kick was smartly gathered in by Pepe.


EXTRA TIME
Extra time – we were on top throughout the extra time and had a couple of decent efforts from Cisse, Riise, Kromkamp and Morientes. Odd then that the last twist of the game proper should have been West Ham’s only real effort in extra time.

But an effort that could have and really should have won them the game when Reo-Cocker looped a header goalward, which Pepe just got a finger to, turning onto the post. The re-bound fell straight to Harewood who could not lift his leg up enough to make a decent contact and so the ball limped harmlessly wide.


PENALTIES
That was it – penalties were going to decide the second cup final in a row. Unlike last year though it was not after the end of a turgid 120 minutes of crap. I know there is a lot said against penalties deciding such an event – but I see no real alternative. A replay is never the same as the final itself and until someone can come up with a better way of deciding it on the day then this is what we are going to get. And lets face it, we’ve won 9 out of 10 shoot-outs we’ve been in so why should we complain.


The first thing that had to be decided was who the hell was going to take our five penalties. Virtually every outfield player on our side had gone down with cramp at some point so you had to worry a little.

It was going to be a brave 5 players (from both sides) who were prepared to put their name on the list.


Of our takers a special mention must go to Riise who had the balls to step up again after missing in Istanbul last year. Unlike last year he relied on pace rather than placement and smacked a pile driver down the middle. The relief on his face and in his gesture was there for us all to see.
Hamann and Gerrard both chose to smack the ball hard into Hislop’s left. But it was Pepe who stole the limelight in this mini drama with three great saves. The first in particular was a stunning save down to his right.


FA CUP WINNERS - 2006

And so that was that – FA cup winners for the 7th time and never one more hard fought and for the class of each of the 3 goals scored never one more deserved. Roll on next year.


See the highlights on You Tube by clicking here