Sunday 15 May 2011

Delight for Manchester as City win the FA Cup

Manchester City have won the FA Cup after beating Stoke City 1-0 at Wembley!


Yaya Toure proved the matchwinner - just as he was in the semi-final against Manchester United - as he rammed home the only goal of the game 15 minutes from time to cap a memorable week in the Citizens' history.

On Tuesday night they beat Spurs 1-0 at Eastlands to book a spot in the Champions League.

It was a sign of things to come as Mancini's men belied their reputation for caution in a utterly dominant first-half display.
Ryan Shawcross almost put into his own net and Toure drilled just wide from long range.
And City would have been ahead midway through the half but for a world-class save from Sorensen, who somehow clawed behind Mario Balotelli's top-corner-bound curler.
It was looking like Sorensen's lucky day after he kept his place as Stoke's FA Cup goalkeeper ahead of Asmir Begovic.
He survived being beaten to a long ball by Tevez and got away with spilling Vincent Kompany's tame long-ranger.
His luck continued when Tevez brilliantly played in Balotelli and Sorensen beat the ball down straight to David Silva, who rifled a shot into the ground and over the crossbar.
Stoke had gone some way to shattering their own reputation in their free-flowing semi-final demolition of Bolton.
But when Huth's forearm connected with Balotelli's jaw, it was an early indication they had reverted to type.
Long throws and set-pieces were once again the order of the day, although they did fashion a chance in open play when Vincent Kompany threw his body at Kenwyne Jones' close-range shot.
Emerging from what can only have been harsh words at half-time, Stoke tore into City early in the second half, Jermaine Pennant playing through the pain of a first-half ankle injury to lead the charge.
But they were unable to produce the finishing touch and were almost caught on the break when Tevez squared for Silva, who hesitated just long enough for Shawcross to nick the ball away.
Joe Hart had been a spectator all afternoon but he came to City's rescue just past the hour mark when Jones beat Joleon Lescott to a long ball before poking his finish too close to the keeper.
Etherington, who had looked less than fully fit, was immediately withdrawn for Dean Whitehead.
Mancini responded to City's second-half slump by throwing on Adam Johnson for Gareth Barry and it immediately paid off.
City won the ball on the edge of the area and Balotelli exchanged passes via Huth, with the Italian's shot blocked by Marc Wilson straight to Toure to blast home.

courtesy: espnstar

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