CHELSEA 2-1 EVERTON

We were barely on the pitch when Louis Saha put Everton a goal up on 25 seconds, taking Roberto Di Matteo’s former record (42 secs) for the fastest ever FA Cup final goal. Not ideal but we seemed to respond well once we were over the shock. Mind you, Everton did equally as well soaking up the pressure and sitting back on their lead.

We stuck at it though, kept pushing forward and a goal was always going to come, it was just a question of who and when. The answer was Didier Drogba in the 21st minute, heading it past Howard from a cross. Game on.

Malouda was a threat throughout the first half, causing Hibbert constant problems. Definitely a new player under Guus Hiddink’s reign. Likewise Steven Pienaar for Everton though who made a right nuisance of himself and linking up with Saha, looked as if the opening goal he’d set up wasn’t the only damage he’d planned to inflict on us. Saha himself was a right pain in the arse for our defence, with the Chelsea captain berating the rest of his backline on more than one occasion. Anelka was another player who stood out for us in the first half, working arse off up and down the right side

 We looked the better side on the ball, playing some nice one-touch football, and constantly exploiting what seemed to be a weakness down Everton’s right hand side with Hibbert.  It can’t have been easy for anyone with the temperature inside Wembley Stadium at 107 degrees although Everton didn’t look too hot and bothered, in fact they looked organized, composed, and certainly not overawed by either the occasion or their opposition and 1-1 was a fair reflection of the game at half-time.

No changes for us at the break although Moyes decided to withdraw Hibbert after the first half, replacing him with Jacobson.

As you were after the break then with us on the attack and Everton defending comfortably enough. Anelka came bloody close on the hour mark, close enough to get the adrenalin going anyway. Michael Ballack on for Essien who looked a bit weary today. Our German midfielder had been saying he was well up for this game, although wrestling Anelka to the same ball within seconds of stepping on the pitch might be regarded as a little too enthusiastic.

Anyway, Everton got a bit of a spurt on after the hour mark, with Saha trying to exploit that from a beauty of a cross which, fortunately for us he headed over. It was starting to get a bit frustrating for us though, with Phil Neville doing far too good a job of keeping Lampard quiet, and with both his and Essien’s influence now missing from the midfield, I was whingeing my arse off. Sods law the, Lampard right on cue loses Neville for just long enough to bang in one of his trademark goals off the fingertips of the diving Tim Howard.

Should’ve been 3-1 minutes later with Lampard again involved, threading a lovely ball through to Malouda, who lost his nerve with just the keeper to beat and put it high and wide. He nearly put the final out of Everton’s reach with much more style soon after though, smashing the ball from distance, only to see it come off the bar – replays showed the ball bounced over the line. Just over 5 minutes to go, Pienaar sticks his leg out in the box and Lampards reward for going over it? A yellow card naturally. Another one of ‘those days’ perhaps?

It certainly felt that way while I was biting my nails down to my elbows. It’s been a while since Chelsea wanted the FA Cup quite as desperately as this one. But there were 4 agonising minutes of time added on to endure and with me due at work 4 hours ago, I was praying these minutes didn’t result in a penalty shoot out – and my P45 on the desk!

It was Chelsea’s day in the end though. We deserved it, Guus Hiddink deserved it.

KTBFFH.

Filed under: Domestic Cups, Match Day, Match report