Frank Lampard delivers FA Cup delight for Chelsea despite Everton’s dream start
Chelsea came from a goal down to win their first trophy since Jose Mourinho’s departure, Frank Lampard’s second-half winner allowing Guus Hiddink the leaving present of an FA Cup two years after their previous one. It was Lampard’s 20th goal of the season, the fourth successive season he has reached that figure, and as the outstanding Florent Malouda was unlucky to be denied a legitimate goal after that no one could deny Chelsea deserved their victory.
Everton did not just get off to the best possible start they got off to the best start ever, Louis Saha’s goal on 25 seconds beating Roberto di Matteo’s 43-second opener in 1997 and finally settling an ancient argument about a goal thought to have been scored between 30 and 40 seconds in 1895. There is no question that Saha now has the quickest ever, hitting a left foot shot on the turn past Petr Cech from the edge of the penalty area after Chelsea had failed to clear the first Steven Pienaar cross from the left.
No one was expecting that, though Everton were hampered in their attempts to hang on to their lead by the inability of Saha and Marouane Fellaini to hold the ball in forward positions, meaning that Chelsea kept coming forward, and Tony Hibbert’s unequal contest with Florent Malouda. The Everton right-back was already struggling to contain the winger when he was booked for a cynical foul in the eighth minute. That made his life even harder, though it did not excuse his continued wandering out of position. It was no great surprise when Chelsea got back on terms midway through the first half and still less of one that Malouda was the provider. Found by Frank Lampard in plenty of space on the left, he sent over the sort of cross that Didier Drogba thrives on, the centre forward easily muscling out an earthbound Joleon Lescott to give Tim Howard no chance with a close-range header.
David Moyes sensibly replaced Hibbert with Lars Jacobsen once Everton made it to the interval without further damage, and pulled Fellaini back into midfield, where he had proved more effective, to allow Tim Cahill to get further forward. Everton enjoyed their best spell after that and the game was quite open for a while, with Saha missing an excellent chance from a Leighton Baines cross in the 67th minute and Drogba going close from Malouda three minutes later at the other end.
Lampard stumbled then recovered to settle the issue with a left-foot drive that just eluded Howard’s dive, before Malouda missed a relatively simply chance then “scored” an outrageous 35-yard shot that hit Howard’s bar and bounced behind the line and then out, undetected by anyone until the next break in play provided the tell-tale replays.
Truly the final that had everything. The fastest goal in history and another Geoff Hurst moment. Fortunately a World Cup was not resting on this one.
FA Cup Final
Chelsea 2 Drogba 21, Lampard 72
Everton 1 Saha 1* Paul Wilson at Wembley
* guardian.co.uk, Saturday 30 May 2009 17.03 BST
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