FA Cup: Agony for Liverpool as Chelsea inch over line

It was the moment Liverpool had dragged themselves back into a game that they had all but lost. Luis Suarez crossed from the right and Andy Carroll met it with a firm header. Carroll ran off in celebration, Kenny Dalglish leapt up and punched the air. Liverpool were level. Only they weren't.

The cheers from the red end suddenly went stereo as the blue half realised what was happening; referee Phil Dowd had not given the goal. The ball had not crossed the line. Liverpool's players were in disbelief and Dalglish seemed to indicate it had gone about three feet over. It was much closer than that.

Replays could not clarify if the whole ball had crossed the line. One thing was sure: Petr Cech had done superbly to push the ball up on to the bar and create the doubt in Dowd's mind. It was only from the overhead camera that it looked like the ball might have gone far enough but even after multiple replays it was impossible to tell for sure.

In the semi-finals Chelsea had been credited with a goal that did not cross the line, in the final it looked like they had been spared one that had. Chelsea were relieved. They had dominated this game for over an hour and then nearly thrown it away as Liverpool belatedly awakened.

Ramires had punished Liverpool's early mistakes and then Didier Drogba had scored his eighth Wembley goal, becoming the first player to score in four different FA Cup finals. Roberto Di Matteo made history in becoming the last player to score at the old Wembley; Drogba tightened his grip on the new.

The game ended frantically but it had begun almost sedately.

Then, with 11 minutes played, Chelsea pounced. Jay Spearing gave away the ball in midfield and Juan Mata was on to it. The Spain midfielder rolled the ball to Ramires on the right and Enrique was caught between going in for the challenge and holding off. Ramires slipped past him and his acceleration left the Liverpool left-back in his wake.

Pepe Reina should not have been left so easily exposed but the Liverpool goalkeeper should have offered greater resistance. He seemed to anticipate Ramires shooting across him towards the far corner and, off balance, could only deflect the Brazilian's shot in at the near post.

Liverpool sought a response. Glen Johnson twisted and turned on the right before putting in an excellent low cross which Branislav Ivanovic had to dive low to head clear. The Serb sprang back to his feet and blocked Craig Bellamy's volleyed follow up.

That attack aside, the Chelsea defence were barely troubled for much of the first half. Liverpool were being suffocated by Di Matteo's team in midfield and, under that pressure, started misplacing passes and falling out of sync, with huge gaps opening between the lines and Suarez isolated up front.

Chelsea began to dominate. Ramires and Salomon Kalou were full of confidence, running with the ball at their feet while Liverpool's midfielders were struggling to track the movement of Mata. Confident Drogba was shooting on sight.

The urgency to close down Gerrard went too far as half-time approached, when John-Obi Mikel went in late on the Liverpool captain, his studs catching Gerrard's boot after he had struck the ball. Chelsea's holding midfielder was shown the yellow card. Dan Agger followed Mikel into the book shortly after, clumsily sliding into the Chelsea player after the ball had gone.

There were some flickers of improvement from Dalglish's side as half-time approached - Stewart Downing and Craig Bellamy put in crosses that required astute defending - but Liverpool needed to find substantial improvement in the second half.

It came in the game's final third but by then it was too late.

There was momentary optimism they could get back into it quickly - Gerrard went surging forward, past two men and into the Chelsea box, where he crashed into Ivanovic. Moments later, the game looked out of Liverpool's reach.

Lampard span away from Spearing and fired the ball into Drogba's feet. The Chelsea striker controlled with his right, let the ball run out of his feet and then shot low with his left foot through Martin Skrtel's legs and into the far corner - a superb clinical finish.

Chelsea were full of confidence now. Kalou curled one shot over, then Lampard hit a cross-field pass, Mata juggled and passed to Drogba, whose volleyed smashed into the side-netting.

Liverpool were floundering and needed a change - Dalglish sent on Andy Carroll for Spearing and switched to a more aggressive
4-4-2 and then with one moment, the whole complexion of the game changed. Liverpool were making progress down the left but it looked like Jose Bosingwa would clear. Downing got his boot in, though, and the ball flew straight to Carroll.

The big Liverpool No?9 wrong-footed Terry with a sort-of step-over, bringing the ball back on to his left foot and thumping it high into the net.

Liverpool were enlivened. Carroll had two chances to head an equaliser; Suarez cut inside from the left along the edge of the box and forced Cech to push his low shot behind.

Then came the controversial moment. Liverpool fuelled by their sense of injustice, piled the pressure on. Only a brilliant last-ditch tackle from Terry stopped Carroll scoring from close range. Chelsea were clinging on but they have become rather expert in rearguard actions and they made it to the final whistle.