I Was There: 2007 Carling Cup Final, Chelsea 2-1 Arsenal

Here is the second edition of "I Was There," a series of articles on B/R where I recall my experience at memorable Chelsea matches I have attended in the past.

In this edition I regale you with a tale of the 2007 Carling Cup Final.

And so, two years later, it was off to Cardiff again for another Carling Cup final. This time me, my brother and my dad would get a coach up to Cardiff, booked through the club. It was to be an early start as the coach was leaving at around 8am. We arrived into Cardiff at around 12:30pm, a bit later than planned due to traffic. We were handed flags as we got off the coach and began to make our way to the stadium.

We were seated to the right of where we were in 2005, in the upper tier, first row. The seats were brilliant and well worth the money spent. All that remained now was to wait for kick-off. I had a flick through the program and a bite to eat, and eventually the game got underway.

The game had misleadingly been billed as Arsenal’s "kids" against Chelsea’s "pensioners." What Sky et al forgot was the fact that the average age of the Chelsea side was 23, just two years behind Arsenal’s and that Arsenal had five players on the pitch who were older than John Obi Mikel.

Chelsea started sluggishly (as they always seem to do) and were behind after 11 minutes when Theo Walcott’s mum gave him permission to play and he put the ball past Petr Cech. And with that Walcott achieved something that Thierry Henry hasn’t done: score in a Cup Final. Who says he doesn’t turn it on in the big games?

Anyway, Didier Drogba drew us level later on, with a supposedly debateable goal, but of course I and many other Chelsea fans didn’t care and were grateful we’d pulled it back.

Celery was in plentiful supply and Fabregas learned to hate taking corners at the Chelsea end. Almunia was also hit in the head with a brilliant shot from a guy in the middle part of the lower tier.

There was a time in the game when I thought everything was going to go wrong. It was a terrifying sight seeing John Terry motionless on the turf and not knowing if he was conscious or worse.

Although it was great when we won the trophy, my mind was occupied by thoughts of Terry’s injury. Thankfully he was relatively unharmed and being the legend that he is discharged himself from hospital to go and celebrate with the other players.

The Arsenal fans were silent for most of the game if I remember correctly, and when they did sing, it was an extensive selection of two songs. Most would be gone come full time, not staying to see their "kids" pick up their runners up medals.

It was a header from Didier Drogba that would give us the trophy, beating his good mate Philippe "Oh no not Drogba again" Senderos to the ball. Like I’d done two years earlier, I went mental when the goal went in, thankfully I didn’t go over the other end of the stand though!

Then, a "fight" broke out, if you could call it that. Mikel was tugging Toure’s shirt, or looked at him funny, something trivial like that, and then Toure proceeded to grab Mikel as if he’d made a threat to kill his family. Fabregas showed what a mature and respectable young man he is by getting involved, and Eboue hit Bridge. Nice to know what Martin Keown’s role at Arsenal is nowadays.

Irrespective of the playground scuffle, Chelsea won the trophy and I was delighted. The five hour journey home didn’t seem so unbearable. After the trophy presentation and parade around the pitch was over, it was time to head off to the coach.

It was due to leave at 7pm so there was a bit of time to hang around and take in the events of the afternoon/evening. Luckily there was an off-licence on the road where all the coaches were parked, and a celebratory drink was drank before we got on the coach to start our journey south.

We arrived back at Stamford Bridge at around 11pm and made our way home. We got home just in time to catch the highlights on ITV. Suffice to say, I went in college the next day with a massive smile on my face.

We’d won our second Carling Cup in two years and our fourth in our history, and the first trophy on offer that season. A cup final much closer to home was to follow in May.

Next up: 2007 FA Cup Final, Chelsea 1-0 Manchester United.