That was a proper cup final

From the sea of red and white shirts on Wembley Way before the game, to the noise they made in the stadium during the game, the Sunderland fans were magnificent yesterday. Their team were very good as well. Neither deserved to be on the losing side, but then sport doesn't do deserving. You can play badly and win, or play well and lose. For Sunderland it was the latter.

City took a while to get going, both on and off the pitch. The Sunderland end was full well before kick-off, the City end filled up closer to kick-off. A consequence of how often we have each visited Wembley recently perhaps. But once the City end filled up, the noise from both ends of the stadium made for a great atmosphere and a real cup final feel.

In the first half, Sunderland were the better side, battling well and taking a (probably) deserved lead. City took a while to get going but when they did, unleashed two of the greatest cup final goals I've ever seen. At the time I thought Toure's was the better goal. But after getting home and watching the replay's I'm starting to think Nasri's may have been better. Either way, both goals would have been worthy of any final.

At 2-1 though, there was always a chance for Sunderland to get back in it. On another day the ball may have bounced more kindly for them and they would have. Then, who knows what would have happened. Overall City were just the better side, but there wasn't much in it. Both teams (and sets of supporters) were part of a proper cup final.

Finally though, I have to mention the only disappointments of the day and they all relate to problems with Wembley itself. There is always the worlds biggest queue on Wembley Way after the game, this is now expected and well managed but doesn't improve. But the queue's in the toilets are even worse. For a stadium which loudly claimed to have more toilets than any other stadium when it opened, I've no idea how they can be so bad.

Wembley also seems to have the worlds loudest PA system. It somehow drowns out 90,000 fans at times. When will they learn that allowing the fans to create the atmosphere is the best way to do it? Not trying to force an atmosphere with ridiculously loud music.

Lastly, have a look at the photo at the top of this blog. Notice all the empty seats in the Club Wembley area? That photo was taken with about 15 minutes of the game to go. This is disgracful. There were several thousand empty seats there which could have been used by fans of the two teams. The FA needs to look at the terms of the Club Wembley seats when they come up for renewal. If they aren't going to use them for a game, they should be made available for others to use.