Source: Daily_Mail
FA CUP FINAL - Everton v Chelsea: All the action as it happens
CHELSEA 2 EVERTON 1
16.56 FULL TIME: Chelsea 2 Everton 1. Nobody could really argue with that in the end. Everton's only real threat came after 25 seconds when Louis Saha scored the fastest goal in Cup Final history. Then the big guns, in the shape of Drogba and Lampard, showed the gulf between a top four side and the best of the rest. Guus Hiddink rides off into the sunset with a trophy.
16.53 Chelsea seem to have an obsession with trying to lift the ball into the net. This time Anelka puts it over the bar instead of in the onion bag.
16.51 Cahill has a pop from distance but fails to trouble Cech. But there will be four minutes added time.
16.49 Only two minutes left and Everton cannot make any headway.
16.48 Ashley Cole is named man of the match. We hadn't considered him on the grounds of good taste.
16.45 Fearless Frank blots his copybook as he goes over Pienaar's outstretched leg and is booked for diving.
16.43 Dan Gosling, hero of Everton's 4th-round win over Liverpool, comes on for Osman.
16.39 Malouda almost shatters the crossbar with a stunning left-footer from 35 yards..and TV replays suggest it might have bounced down over the line. Where's the Russian linesman when you need him?
16.38 Everton bring on 20-year-old James Vaughan for Louis Saha.
16.35 Only 16 minutes left and Everton have got to pick up the pace. But instead Chelsea should have sealed it as they break at pace, Cole finds Malouda but he lifts his shot over the bar.
16.32 GOAL!!! Chelsea 2 Everton 1. Lampard could have won the Cup for Chelsea - and certainly the man of the match award - with an absolute corker. He picks the ball up from Anelka 30 yards out, advances forward and arrows a left-foot shot past Howard for his 20th goal of the season.
16.31 Pinball in the Everton box as Malouda's driven cross comes off Fellaini, then hits Drogba and finally clips the outside of the post.
16.24 Mikel is booked, seemingly for whingeing over a free-kick. He should be careful...today's ref Howard Webb sent him off in the Carling Cup final a couple of years ago.
16.22 Ballack comes on for Essien...a year's supply of Everton toffees for the first Scouser to kick him.
16.20 Another sumptuous ball from Lampard and Anelka bursts through but lifts his shot inches over Howard's crossbar.
16.18 Herr Ballack is warming up. Not too sure who he could replace at the moment as Chelsea have a fairly vice-like grip on midfield.
16.13 Whatever you say about Lampard, he rarely wastes a pass. And whatever you say about Cole, he causes havoc with his forward runs. The pair combine again to earn Chelsea a corner but it comes to nothing.
16.11 Tony Hibbert has been taken off after suffering a first-half roasting from Ashley Cole and Florent Malouda - and picking up a yellow card. Danish defender Lars Jacobsen is now at right-back with Leon Osman helping out.
16.08 Phil Neville cops a yellow card after a nasty tackle on Essien. It looked innocuous at first but there was a little rake of the left boot on Essien's knee.
16.06 Off we go again...and again those in the posh seats opposite the TV cameras can't get back in time for the kick-off.
15.48 HALF-TIME: Chelsea 1 Everton 1. Well, that was surprisingly good. Everton haven't looked hugely dangerous (the opening 25 seconds aside) while Chelsea have got better and better. But with Alex playing like a man on roller skates the Toffees are still in with a shout.
15.47 Petr Cech drops a regulation catch out for a corner but Everton waste it.
15.44 The much-loved Ashley Cole bursts through down the left then draws hoots of derision from every Evertonian as he blazes over from a tight angle.
15.39 It's 41 degrees pitchside now - or 107 fahrenheit for those who prefer it in the old-fashioned style. We should start a sweep on who goes down with cramp first. My money's on Jon Obi Wan Kenobe Mikel.
15.36 Although Chelsea have the upper hand, Terry and centre-half partner Alex are looking pretty shaky whenever Everton do break.
15.32 Anelka plays the pass of the afternoon to Malouda on the left flank but his French chum fiddles around and ends up hitting a tame shot into a wall of bodies.
15.29 The game is settling down in Chelsea's favour now..Lampard and Essien have a grip on midfield and Drogba is a one-man assault squad up front.
15.26 Essien goes straight through Fellaini and cops a lecture from ref Howard Webb but no yellow card.
15.22 GOAL!!! Chelsea 1 Everton 1. Didier Drogba loves a big stage - and the striker does it again with his sixth goal for Chelsea in Cup finals. Florent Malouda puts in a gorgeous cross from the left and Drogba rises to power his header past Howard.
15.16 Fellaini's breaks from deep are causing havoc in the Chelsea defence...but this time the hairy hero of Goodison cannot get on the end of a nice ball from Pienaar.
15.14 Chelsea beginning to probe but Everton are defending in depth and Michael Essien is reduced to a pot-shot from 20 yards, which sails over Tim Howard's bar.
15.11 It's a strange scenario for Chelsea...usually they like to score first and then sit back. Now they have to force the pace, while Fellaini, Saha and Tim Cahill look to catch them on the break.
15.08 Punters with a first scorer bet did not get much of a run for their money. First yellow card goes to Tony Hibbert - an 11-1 shot.
15.05 Chelsea chief Guus Hiddink looks sick as a dog. It's his final game in charge of the Blues and the omens are not good now - the last 11 teams to score the first goal in Wembley FA Cup finals have won the trophy.
15.01 GOAL!!!! Chelsea 0 Everton 1. Unbelievable stuff as Louis Saha scores the fastest-ever goal in a Cup Final after just 25 SECONDS. Marouane Fellaini nods a loose ball down to the Frenchman and he lashes a 15-yard, left-footed strike past a bewildered Petr Cech.
14.52 The London Gospel Choir belt out Abide With Me...a decent stab at it, but it looked like they had borrowed Liverpool's white Spice Boy suits from the 96 Final. I still maintain the Cup Final hymn should be sung by a Welshman with a voice like gravel going round a cement mixer.
14.47 There's no doubt Everton have earned the right to make it to Wembley. So far the Toffees have seen off Liverpool, Villa and Man Utd. Chelsea have only met one Prem side so far (Arsenal in the semi) and had their toughest tussle at Watford in the fifth round where the Championship side took the lead before Nicolas Anelka's treble restored the natural order.
14.42 Z-Cars blares out around Wembley, causing some confusion for anyone who isn't an Evertonian and is under 40 years of age. For you youngsters out there, Z-Cars was a cop show in the days when coppers used to say 'ello, ello, ello, what's going on ere then'. And for some strange reason both Everton and Watford adopted the theme tune as their song. So now you know.
14.34 Louis Saha is appearing in his first FA Cup final in five attempts. The Frenchman, who some might say is a little injury-prone, missed one final with Newcastle and three with Man U - and a World Cup final to boot - through a combination of being crocked or suspended.
In contrast Chelsea's Ashley Cole plays in his SIXTH final, and already has four winner's medals on show in his tasteful Surrey mansion - another will make him the first man in over 100 years to claim five.
14.28 It's getting hot, hot, hot out there.....it's already 36 degrees on the pitch - that just about 100 in old money.
13.58 What a choker - everybody's favourite player, Michael Ballack, has been left out of Chelsea's line-up. The likeable German missed out two years ago through injury (and some would say he has been missing for most of this season as well). Now the midfielder who was banned for a World Cup final loses out again.
John Obi-Mikel takes Ballack's place - so it looks like Guus Hiddink is ready for a war of attrition in his final game in charge of Chelsea. Nicolas Anelka will be part of a five-man midfield, leaving Didier Drogba on his own up front where he will either terrify the opposition or fling himself around like an hysterical schoolgirl.
Marouane Fellaini is back in Everton's midfield after being rested for last Sunday's win at Fulham. The Toffees also only have one man up front, Louis Saha.
12.59 Good afternoon boys and girls - and welcome to football how it used to be. Once upon a time the FA Cup Final was always the last game of the season (because we never had any clubs involved in the Champions League final), the sun always shone on Wembley Way and there were scones for tea.
And this year - owing to the fact the Cup Final is being played in the middle of summer - that's exactly what we've got as the blues of Everton meet the, er, blues of Chelsea.
Forget the flair of Barcelona in midweek, this promises to be proper English stuff....power, grit and passion. It's just there won't be many Englishmen on show to produce it.
There'll be 90,000 screaming Englishmen (and ladies) in the stands though - and judging by the look of them at mid-day most supporters will be slightly pink from a combination of sun and lager.
And we are guaranteed to see an Englishman lift the Cup - either Chelsea skipper John Terry or Everton's Phil Neville.
So all you need to to do now is settle down, crack open a tin of Aldi's finest and roar: C'mon you Blues.
