Chelsea seal FA Cup to deny Liverpool a double

Chelsea withstood a late Liverpool onslaught to seal their fourth FA Cup final victory in six seasons here Saturday with a 2-1 win at Wembley.A goal in each half from Brazilian midfielder Ramires and veteran striker Didier Drogba clinched a narrowly deserved win for Chelsea, with substitute Andy Carroll scoring for Liverpool.The win saw Chelsea skipper John Terry enter the record books as the first man to captain one side to four victories in the competition having already lifted the famous trophy in 2007, 2009 and 2010.“It’s fantastic, it’s what we live for,” a jubilant Terry told the BBC.“We spoke about winning yesterday and we’ve had a tough competition in the FA Cup this season and we’ve won, it was a great performance.“At times people have slated us as too old, past it or not together but as a team we come together and unite when our backs are against the wall and we’ve done that superbly in the last 16 or 17 games.”Terry’s landmark was also matched by Drogba, whose second-half effort made him the first man to score in four FA Cup finals.But the defeat denied Liverpool the opportunity to end a largely disappointing season with a second piece of silverware following their League Cup triumph over Cardiff in February.However after controlling much of the game, Champions League finalists Chelsea were made to work hard for their win, and Carroll was denied what would have been a dramatic 82nd-minute equaliser when his close-range header was parried onto the underside of the crossbar by Petr Cech.Carroll wheeled away to celebrate thinking the ball had crossed the line but referee Phil Dowd and his assistants remained unmoved.Earlier, Chelsea dominated a poor Liverpool side throughout a poor first half which saw the Merseysiders struggle to get into the game.Liverpool midfielders Jay Spearing and Jordan Henderson were largely anonymous, all too often leaving captain Steven Gerrard overwhelmed.Chelsea meanwhile looked comfortable throughout, with Frank Lampard and Jon Obi Mikel screening the back four against an impotent Liverpool attack.Drogba had been the first to get a shot on goal, hooking a volley just over the bar after only 33 seconds as Chelsea started brightly.The Blues then took the lead on 11 minutes through a Ramires strike that owed everything to poor play from LiverpoolSpearing squandered possession in midfield and Juan Mata gratefully scooped up the loose ball and fired a pass in behind Jose Enrique for Ramires.The rangy Brazilian shrugged off his man with ease and then took advantage of shoddy goalkeeping from Pepe Reina to lash home at the near post.Liverpool might have got back into the match almost immediately, only for Branislav Ivanovic to thwart Craig Bellamy’s fierce volley on 14 minutes with a gutsy block.Yet that was as good as it got for Liverpool for the remainder of the half, with Cech having little to do in the Chelsea goal.Liverpool started the second half more purposefully, with Gerrard producing one surging run into the box and Downing looking lively down the flank.