2014 FA Cup Feenal

The **2014 FA Cup Feenal** wis the 133rd feenal o the FA Cup, the warld's auldest fitbaa cup competeetion. The match wis contestit atween Arsenal an Hull City at Wembley Stadium on 17 Mey 2014. Hull City made thair first appearance in a FA Cup Feenal, whilst Arsenal equalled Manchester United's record o 18 feenal appearances. It wis the first time syne 2010 that the FA Cup Final haed taken place efter the end o the Premier League saison.

Each club needit tae win five matches tae reach the feenal. Arsenal beat three o thair diveesional rivals an needit penalties tae defeat cup haulders Wigan Athletic. Bi contrast, fower o Hull City's opponents wur frae the lawer diveesions; thay played ane replay in the fift roond against Brighton & Hove Albion.

The match wis wan bi Arsenal, a jynt-record 11t Cup, efter extra time. Hull scored wi twa goals in the openin ten minutes frae James Chester an Curtis Davies, but Arsenal came back wi goals frae Santi Cazorla an Laurent Koscielny tae level the match bi the end o regulation time. Aaron Ramsey scored the winner 11 minutes frae the end o extra time.

As Arsenal qualifee'd for the Champions League bi thair league poseetion, Hull City entered 2014–15 UEFA Europa League at the third qualifyin roond; housomeivver, due tae a chynge in UEFA rules, this wis the last saison the runners-up wad enter the Europa League if the winners hae awready qualifee'd for European competeetion.

## Route tae the feenal

### Arsenal




Arsenal entered the competeetion in the third roond. Thay wur drawn at hame against thair north Lunnon rivals, Tottenham Hotspur. Arsenal wan 2–0 at the Emirates Stadium, wi goals frae Santi Cazorla an Tomáš Rosický aither side o hauf time; the match wis marred bi a lang-term injury tae winger Theo Walcott. In the fowert roond, the team wis drawn against Coventry City o Football League One, at the Emirates Stadium. Arsenal wan 4–0, on a nicht whaur Henry Winter notit: "All of the fans were united in laughter when some of the floodlights went out, following a power surge." For the fift roond, Arsenal wis drawn against Liverpool at home, producin a 2–1 victory. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain opened the scorin athin the first 15 minutes, afore Podolski doubled thair lead. Steven Gerrard scored a penalty juist afore the oor merk an Liverpool coud hae been awairdit anither spot kick efter Oxlade-Chamberlain's challenge on Luis Suárez, but for Howard Webb tae rule it acceptable.

In the saxt roond, Arsenal wis again at hame an walcomit Everton. Thay wan the match 4–1, wi three o the goals comin in the feenal 10 minutes o the gemme. In thair semi-feenal at Wembley Stadium, Arsenal wis drawn wi FA Cup haulders Wigan Athletic. The match feenished 1–1 efter extra time, wi a late Per Mertesacker equaliser makkin up for the penalty he concedit, which haed been scored bi Jordi Gómez tae gie Wigan the lead. Arsenal progressed tae the feenal efter winnin 4–2 in a penalty shuit-oot, in which Łukasz Fabiański savit twa penalties an Arsenal scored aw o thair penalty kicks includin the winner frae Cazorla.

### Hull City




Lik Arsenal, Hull City entered the competeetion in the third roond an aw. The club wis drawn awa tae Middlesbrough and made nine changes tae the team that played thair previous match. A goal apiece frae Aaron McLean and Nick Proschwitz ensured a 2–0 win. Matty Fryatt scored baith goals in Hull's fowert roond victory against Southend United o Football League Two. In the next roond, thay wur paired wi Football League Championship team Brighton & Hove Albion. Striker Leonardo Ulloa gae Brighton an first hauf lead, but Hull's Yannick Sagbo levelled the score wi five minutes o the match remainin. As thare wur nae further goals, the tee wis replayed at the KC Stadium, which Hull wan 2–1.

In the saxt roond, Hull wur drawn at hame against Sunderland. Three seicont hauf goals bi Curtis Davies, David Meyler and Fryatt led Hull tae a 3–0 win – a "richly deserved" victory said jurnalist Luke Edwards writing for *[[The Daily Telegraph]]*. The club therefore reached its first FA Cup semi final syne 1930. In the semi-final, Hull beat Sheffield United, bi five goals tae three. Jose Baxter gae Sheffield United the lead in the 19t minute; awtho Fryatt equalised for Hull, Stefan Scougall's goal juist afore hauf time meant Sheffield United restored thair lead. The seicont hauf consisted of fower goals produced frae baith sides, three of which scored bi Hull.

## Pre-match
Arsenal appeared in an FA Cup feenal for the aichteent time tae equal the appearance record set bi Manchester United. The record for the nummer o wins bi a single club wis matched efter Arsenal's win an aw, wi Manchester United winnin the cup on 11 separate occasions an Arsenal haein 10 prior victories (1930, 1936, 1950, 1971, 1979, 1993, 1998, 2002, 2003 an 2005). Hull City, housomeivver, made thair first appearance in a FA Cup Feenal syne the club wis foondit in 1904.

Arsenal wore thair tradeetional reid an white hame kit for the feenal and uised the hame team dressing room, while thair fans wur allocatit the West End o the stadium. Hull City fans occupee'd the East End an the team played in thair amber an black hame kit.

Ticket prices for the feenal stairtit at £45 an wur available at £65, £85 an £115, wi a £10 discoont for concessions, as ticket prices remained the same frae the previous FA Cup feenal. Baith clubs, Arsenal an Hull City, wur allocatit 25,000 tickets, wi approximately 20,000 tickets bein distributit tae volunteers "throu the fitbaa faimily" which includit coonties, leagues, local clubs an charities.

The tradeetional pre-match anthem, "Abide with Me", an the naitional anthem wur performit bi *[[:en:The X Factor (UK TV series)|The X Factor]]* winner Leona Lewis, accompaniet bi the Band of the Welsh Guards.

## Match
### Team selection
Arsenal wur athoot lang-term injured attackers Theo Walcott an Serge Gnabry, while caiptain Thomas Vermaelen an Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain facit late fitness tests. While Vermaelen made the bench, Oxlade-Chamberlain missed the final.	

Hull strike partnership Shane Long an Nikica Jelavić wur cup-tee'd, haein appeared earlier in the toornament for West Bromwich Albion an Everton respectively.	
Paul McShane, James Chester, Sone Aluko an Robbie Brady facit fitness tests for Hull, who saw the return o goalkeeper Allan McGregor frae a neer injury.

### Summary
#### First hauf
Hull kickit-aff the 133rd FA Cup Feenal an dominatit possession for the openin stages. Barely fower minutes intae the gemme, Hull wan a corner that wis crossed in bi Stephen Quinn tae fynd Tom Huddlestone on the edge o the penalty aurie; Huddlestone tried a volley that went intae the path o James Chester, who tappit it in frae close range tae gie Hull City a early lead. The heich tempo wi which Hull stairtit the gemme apparently owerwhelmit Arsenal, an fower minutes efter the first goal, thay scored again. Ahmed Elmohamady receivit a free kick an crossed it in tae the penalty aurie. This caused controversy as Arsenal believit he haed taken the free kick several yards in front o whaur the foul wis committit. Nivertheless, the baw wis pickit up on the far edge o the penalty aurie bi Quinn, who got past Aaron Ramsey an crossed it in tae the goalmooth, whaur it wis heidit towards goal bi centre-back Alex Bruce. Arsenal goalkeeper Łukasz Fabiański parriet it oot tae Hull caiptain an fellae centre-back Curtis Davies, who fired the baw intae the far bottom corner o the goal. Hull amaist scored a third goal moments later, when a heider frae Bruce wis heidit aff the goal line bi Arsenal's Kieran Gibbs. Insteid, it wis Arsenal who scored the next goal; in the 16t minute, thay wan a free kick on the edge o the Hull penalty aurie, which Santi Cazorla fired ower the Hull waw an intae the top corner o the goal. For the rest o the first hauf, chances wur scarce an Hull maintained thair lead intae the hauf-time interval.

#### Seicont hauf
At the stairt o the seicont hauf, Arsenal came oot on top, constantly pressin for a equaliser. Thay wur denied twa penalties bi referee Lee Probert afore thay feenally got an equaliser in the 71st minute, wi centre-back Laurent Koscielny bundlin a heider frae Bacary Sagna ower the line follaein a corner. Mony believit that a goal kick shoud hae been gien insteid o a corner as it appeared that substitute Yaya Sanogo got the last touch, but the goal wis gien nanetheless. In the 79t minute, Gibbs haed a chance tae put Arsenal in front when he haed juist goalkeeper Allan McGregor tae beat, but he coud no hit the target, shuitin heich o the goal. Arsenal haed anither chance for a winnin goal in injury time, but Olivier Giroud's shot wis savit bi McGregor.

#### Extra time
Arsenal leukit lik the better team for maist o extra time, creatin lots o chances. Giroud hit the crossbar efter five minutes an Ramsey fired a nummer o law shots at goal, forcin saves frae McGregor. Fower minutes intae the seicont hauf o extra time, Arsenal teuk the lead via a law shot frae Ramsey tae the near corner follaein a back-pass bi Giroud. Wi fower minutes o the gemme left, Hull haed a chance tae equalise when Sone Aluko teuk advantage o a Per Mertesacker slip, went roond the onrushin Fabiański, an fired a shot athort the Arsenal penalty aurie frae a vera ticht angle, anerly for it tae go inches wide. Three minutes later, Aluko haed anither chance when he shot at the corner anerly for it tae be savit juist in time bi Fabiański. A minute later, Probert blew for full time wi the score at Arsenal 3–2 Hull City, giein Arsenal thair first trophy for nine years syne beatin Manchester United on penalties in the 2005 FA Cup Feenal.

### Details

### Statistics

## Post-match

A new version o the FA Cup trophy wis cast tae be presentit, for the first time, tae the winners o the 2014 feenal. Hivier than the previous twa versions o the cup it is made o 925 Sterling Silver. It staunds  heich an wechts . Commissioned in 2013, it replaces a cup first presentit tae Liverpool in the 1992 FA Cup Final, an is the third version o the trophy. The base o the auld trophy conteenin the names o winners is retained. Haein wan the cup, Arsenal paradit the trophy frae a open top bus on 18 Mey, frae the Emirates Stadium tae Islington Town Hall on Upper Street in north Lunnon.

The match wis broadcast live in the Unitit Kinrick bi baith ITV an BT Sport. ITV providit the free-tae-air coverage an BT Sport 1 wis the pey-TV alternative. ITV held the majority o the viewership – a peak audience o 10.1 million viewers (52.1% viewin share) watched at 19:30pm. The ratins wur up on last year's feenal, which peakit at 9.4 million (42%). BT Sport’s coverage averagit 250,000 viewers (1.8%). Coverage o the feenal began on ITV at 3pm an averagit 5.4 million (50%).

Twa weeks efter the feenal, Arsenal Ladies wan the 2014 FA Women's Cup bi beatin Everton Ladies, giein the club a rare FA Cup dooble.

## References

## Freemit airtins

* The FA Cup