Arsenal end trophy drought with FA Cup win

Arsenal defeated Hull City 3-2.

Aaron Ramsey struck a 109th-minute winner as Arsenal fought back from two goals down to beat Hull City in extra time and win the FA Cup, thus ending their nine-year wait for a trophy.

Hull City scored twice inside the opening 10 minutes and held unto a 2-1 lead over favourites, Arsenal, for most of the match in Saturday evening’s FA Cup final at Wembley.

The Tigers took the lead in the third minute when Tom Huddlestone’s first-time volley from a corner was flicked into the bottom corner by James Chester. They doubled the lead five minutes later when Curtis Davies side-footed home from an acute angle.

Bruce then almost made it three when his looping header had to be cleared off the line by Kieran Gibbs.

Arsenal pulled a goal back in the 17th minute when Santi Cazorla curled a 25-yard free kick towards the top corner that Allan McGregor could only tip onto the underside of the crossbar and in.

The high-octane nature of the match cooled a little following Cazorla’s strike, with chances few and far between in the remainder of the half.

Arsenal came closest to the fourth goal through German duo Mesut Ozil and Lukas Podolski.

Ozil’s volley into the ground was cleared away by Chester before Podolski’s vicious long-range strike was deflected over the top by Davies’s head.

After the break Arsenal had two penalty shouts waved away by referee Lee Probert before they found an equaliser 20 minutes from time.

The Gunners should have taken the lead in the 79th minute when Kieran Gibbs collected the ball in space in front of the goal he however blazed over the bar from just six yards.

Olivier Giroud and Yaya Sanogo could not also take late chances, meaning that extra time was needed.

Soon after the restart, Giroud rattled the crossbar with a header before Aaron Ramsey fired a shot against the side-netting.

The winning goal came 11 minutes from time when Ramsey, running onto a Giroud backheel, picked out the bottom corner with a crisp outside-of-the-boot strike.

Sone Aluko almost scored a dramatic late equaliser when he beat Lukasz Fabianski to a ball on the wing and tried to find the net from a tight angle but could only curl it agonisingly across the face of goal.

Arsenal did manage to hold on to their advantage in the final minutes to win their first major trophy since the 2005 FA Cup.