Manchester City 1 (Y Toure 52)
Manchester United 0
Manchester City Hart - Zabaleta, Kompany, Lescott, Kolarov - De Jong, Barry, A Johnson (Wright-Phillips 79), Yaya Toure - Silva (Vieira 86), Balotelli. Booked: Kompany, Zabaleta, De Jong, Balotelli. Unused subs: Taylor, Boyata, Milner, Dzeko, Jo.
Manchester United Van der Sar - O'Shea (F da Silva 84), Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra - Park, Scholes, Carrick, Valencia, Nani (Hernandez 65) - Berbatov (Anderson 74). Sent off: Scholes. Unused subs: Kuszczak, Owen, Smalling, Gibson.
Attendance 86,549 at Wembley Referee Mike Dean (The Wirral) Kick-off 5.15pm
Live on ITV
MANCHESTER CITY reached the FA Cup Final for the first time in 30 years after they beat Manchester United 1-0 thanks to Yaya Toure's goal.
Toure took advantage of a succession of United defensive errors to score early in the second half and City comfortably held out for a deserved win.
The decisive moment came as Rio Ferdinand failed in his aim to let the ball run out for a goal kick. Instead, the England defender hurried Edwin van der Sar into a poor clearance, and the ball then fell to Michael Carrick.
The Wallsend-born midfielder gifted the ball to Toure and the Ivorian shrugged off the challenge of Nemanja Vidic before coolly slipping the ball between van der Sar's legs.
It was no more than City deserved after they had stunned United with a dominant second-half display, characterised by an attacking verve that Roberto Mancini should employ more readily in the league.
Meanwhile, Paul Scholes hardly helped the Red Devils' cause after he was sent off on 73 minutes for a nasty, thigh-high challenge on Pablo Zabaleta.
To any seasoned football follower, the sight of Scholes piling in high and late did not come as a surprise.
Indeed, the 36-year-old has made a habit of scything challenges throughout his career. As such, he is the third-most booked player in Premier League history and the most cautioned in the Champions League.
On this occasion, it proved costly as United - already without the banned Wayne Rooney - struggled even more to chase the game.
Their frustration boiled over on full time as Ferdinand and Mario Balotelli were at the centre of a scuffle before the former then jabbed his fingers in the direction of City coach David Platt.
Clearly, Balotelli's exuberant celebrations in front of what was left of the United fans riled Ferdinand but the reaction of the former England captain just made him come across as a sore loser.
United had actually started the match better with Dimitar Berbatov firing straight at Joe Hart when clean through just moments before slicing over the bar after good work down the left by Nani.
But, as the Bulgarian turned to try and convert Nani's cross, he appeared to injure himself and he was subdued until being replaced late on by Anderson.
City's finally created their first chance midway through the first half as Gareth Barry turned sharply in the box and hit the side netting.
Fuelled by a sudden surge of self-belief, Mancini's men started to come forward with more purpose as van der Sar saved from Balotelli and Vincent Kompany fired inches wide.
And, though the game was goalless at the break, City continued to have the upper hand on its resumption with Toure making the breakthrough on 52 minutes.
Even after the goal, United struggled to contain City. Adam Johnson almost caught out van der Sar with a near-post shot before Joleon Lescott, unmarked, headed off target.
With time running out, Sir Alex Ferguson attempted to turn the tide by replacing Antonio Valencia with Javier Hernandez.
However, his other substitutions - Anderson for Berbatov and Fabio da Silva for John O'Shea - never seemed likely to change the course of this match.
In the meantime, Ryan Giggs was surprisingly not in the squad while Michael Owen was left kicking his heels on the bench as City began to play against the ten men on the break.
Still, the City fans did not need to worry about their team's earlier profligacy as United only had one second half chance of note from a Nani free-kick which was tipped onto the bar brilliantly by Hart.
Even the announcement of five stoppage time minutes could not inspire the traditional late siege from United. Instead, it just became a way for the City fans to count down the seconds until the full-time whistle.
And, as soon as it sounded, the blue half of the stadium unsurprisingly broke into wild celebrations while Mancini surely let out a huge sigh of relief.
With his expensively-assembled team struggling again to compete at the top end of the league, this was a massive result for him, personally.
He now has the chance to write himself in the City history books by leading the club to their first major trophy since 1976 and their first FA Cup win since 1969.
Will the years of waiting finally end on Saturday, 14th May? Well, Bolton Wanderers or Stoke City are sure to have something to say about that...
Bolton Wanderers 0
Stoke City 5 (Etherington 11, Huth 17, Jones 30, Walters 68, 81)
Bolton Wanderers Jaaskelainen - Steinsson, Knight, Cahill, Robinson - Muamba (Moreno 73), Lee, Petrov (M Davies 46), K Davies - Klasnic (Taylor 46), Elmander. Booked: Robinson. Unused subs: Bogdan, Cohen, Alonso, Wheater.
Stoke City Sorensen - Wilkinson, Huth, Shawcross, Wilson - Pennant (Whitehead 78), Delap, Whelan, Etherington (Pugh 87) - Walters, Jones (Fuller 84). Unused subs: Nash, Diao, Carew, Faye.
Attendance 75,064 at Wembley Referee Howard Webb (S Yorkshire) Kick-off 4pm
Live on ESPN
STOKE CITY will play in their first ever FA Cup Final after battering Bolton Wanderers 5-0 with a brilliant performance at Wembley.
Matthew Etherington, Robert Huth, Kenwyne Jones and two second half Jon Walters strikes sent the Potters potty as Tony Pulis' men produced one of the most comprehensive semi final displays ever.
Stoke ran Bolton ragged all afternoon having gained the advantage of an early lead through Etherington's superb 22-yard shot past Jussi Jaaskelainen.
Pulis' men doubled their lead eight minutes later when Gary Cahill's poor clearance fell straight to Huth who made no mistake from the edge of the box.
And it was 3-0 with less than half an hour played after Jones converted a one-on-one having been played in by the excellent Jermaine Pennant.
Bolton were shell-shocked and had made a significant contribution to their own downfall on each of the goals.
The first goal came as a result of them giving the ball away, Cahill must take some responsibility for the second, and Martin Pertrov was robbed by Pennant for the third.
It was no surprise then to see Bolton manager Owen Coyle ring the changes at half time with Petrov and Ivan Klasnic hauled off for Mark Davies and Matthew Taylor.
But it got no better for the Trotters as Stoke resumed their complete dominance at the start of the second period.
Ryan Shawcross went close with a header from a Rory Delap throw before Jones and Walters both tested the Finnish custodian Jaaskelainen in quick succession.
Walters did get his goal shortly afterwards, though, making it 4-0. The Republic of Ireland international was allowed to run at the defence and unleash a powerful drive which fizzed into bottom corner from 25 yards.
Stoke, who are much derided as long ball merchants with an over-reliance on Delap's long throws, had upset the odds with a collection of cracking goals but Coyle will be upset that Bolton made it so easy.
The Trotters were barely noticeable as an attacking force throughout, finally managing a effort on goal on 71 minutes when substitute Taylor brought Thomas Sorensen into serious action for the first time.
Appropriately, though, it was Stoke who had the final say in this match as Walters completed the rout after Jones' deflected cross fell kindly to him.
That goal may have been tinged with luck but even Stoke's biggest detractors must give them credit for producing this performance on the big stage.
And, to older Potters fans, this victory must easily make up for the FA Cup disappointments when they lost at the semi final stage to Arsenal in successive seasons in 1971 and 1972, their second and third semi final defeats.
At least the second loss in 1972 was tempered somewhat by having won the League Cup that season but that remains Stoke's last major honour.
Bolton have to go back as far as 1958 for their last trophy when a Nat Lofthouse scored twice in a 2-0 win over Manchester United in the FA Cup Final.
The legendary Lofthouse died in January this year and a Bolton Cup win this season would have been an apt way in which to note his passing.
But it was not to be after Coyle's men produced a horror show.
The Scot has deservedly received much credit for transforming Bolton from relegation strugglers under Gary Megson into a top half side.
By giving big interviews to the BBC and the Guardian before the game, though, he was perhaps guilty of courting the media prematurely.
The irony is that Cup semi final losers are rarely, if ever, remembered - and, after this thrashing, it is Stoke - not Bolton - who deserve their day in the sun in May.
And, having being formed in 1863 - 148 years ago - it has certainly been a long time coming!
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