Arsenal ended their nine-year run without a trophy as they beat Hull City 3-2 after extra time to claim the FA Cup at Wembley Stadium.
Arsene Wenger’s last bit of silverware came back in 2005 when they beat Manchester United on penalties to claim this very same prize, but nearly a decade had passed without a trophy before today’s result – which led to criticism of the Gunners boss.
Despite consistently bringing Champions League football to the North London club, small sections of the Arsenal fans had called for Wenger to vacate his post at the end of the season, but the Frenchman earned the right to rest easy on Saturday evening after his side wrapped up victory at a packed out Wembley.
The 133rd FA Cup final exploded into life after just four minutes as Hull took the lead when defender James Chester turned home a scuffed Tom Huddlestone volley, sending Bruce - who won the trophy three times as a player - and the Tigers fans into delirium.
And just moments later it was two, with Chester’s central defensive partner Curtis Davies reacting quickest inside the six yard box, smashing past the floored Lukas Fabianski from the tightest of angles following a goalmouth scramble.
Arsenal halved the deficit soon after courtesy of a wonderful Santi Cazorla free-kick, with the Spaniard wrong-footing Hull keeper Allan McGregor to find the top right-hand corner.
Hull looked as if they had stifled the Arsenal attack in the second half and would hold out for the win, but their hopes of claiming their first FA Cup took a hit as Laurent Koscielny equalised with 20 minutes remaining.
The Gunners continued to search for a winning goal in normal time, and, though it didn’t come within the 90 minutes, their persistence paid off as Aaron Ramsey netted in the second half of extra-time to end Arsenal’s nine years of hurt.
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