Chelsea survived a late Liverpool fight-back to win the FA Cup final 2-1 Saturday and lift the trophy for the fourth time in six seasons thanks to goals from Ramires and Didier Drogba. Chelsea dominated the first half and led through an 11th-minute goal by Ramires and Drogba's clinical strike early in the second half put the London club on course for what appeared to be a comfortable win. But the introduction of Liverpool substitute Andy Carroll after 55 minutes transformed the game. He pulled one goal back and almost equalized with a powerful header seven minutes from time when Chelsea keeper Petr Cech clawed the ball out just before it crossed the line and pushed it on to the crossbar. The referee waved away Liverpool's appeals for a goal and replays failed to show that the entire ball had crossed the line. Drogba became the first player in the 141-year history of the FA Cup to score in four finals and John Terry also added his name to the competition's rich folklore when he became the first player to captain four final-winning teams for 130 years and the first to do so with one club. “This is what we play football for,” Terry told ITV. “It was a great performance. When the chips are down we come together and we have done that superbly this season.” Ashley Cole, who had already won the FA Cup six times, three times with Arsenal and three with Chelsea, extended that record to seven winner's medals. Cole told BBC Five Live: “It is incredible, I feel very humbled by what I have achieved in the FA Cup and hopefully there is more to come. It also gives us great confidence for the Champions League final in two weeks time.” It was another triumph for Chelsea caretaker manager Roberto di Matteo who took over in March following the sacking of Andre Villas-Boas and has also led his side to the Champions League final. He became the third Italian manager in a row to win the FA Cup following Carlo Ancelotti in 2010 and Roberto Mancini last year and joined a select band of men to win the FA Cup as a player and manager with the same club. “I'm very happy for players because we've been heavily criticized this season and we've got the trophy and have the chance for another one,” Di Matteo said. “It's been a difficult season but the players have made the club proud. It's been hard work but we came through it.” Liverpool missed out on the chance of an FA Cup and League Cup double and Chelsea will bid to complete a Cup double by beating Bayern Munich in the Champions League final in Munich on May 19.
