After extra time

Scorers: Tottenham Hotspur - Berbatov (70pen), Woodgate (94); Chelsea - Drogba (39)
Jonathan Woodgate is widely considered by inhabitants of the Spanish capital to be Real Madrid's worst signing. He made a nonsense of that appraisal yesterday, deciding the Carling Cup final in Tottenham's favour as Avram Grant's controversial decision to tinker with a winning combination backfired horribly on Chelsea.

He came to London because he felt the streets around White Hart Lane were about to be paved with gold courtesy of a Spaniard with the Midas touch, and he was right. Woodgate's decision to quit Middlesbrough in favour of London in January was vindicated yesterday. Juande Ramos took his haul of significant trophies to six as Tottenham returned to the winners' podium for the first time in nearly a decade. But if the joy in the blue-and-white half of Wembley was absolute, as club captain Ledley King hobbled up the steps to receive a trophy few had believed possible given the turmoil at the start of the campaign, the dissatisfaction in the opposite stand was tangible. Much of what Chelsea promised to deliver in the Grant era lay in shreds on the Wembley turf.

"I'm not sure anyone is untouchable now," declared Michael Ballack after John Terry and Frank Lampard's shock omission from the side that faced Olympiakos last week. Sadly for Chelsea, that is obviously not the case, as Terry, despite playing just one game in three months, was restored to the side yesterday and Frank Lampard preferred to Ballack.

Both decisions cost Chelsea the chance of a grand slam, as Woodgate rose unmarked to head home the Tottenham winner three minutes into extra time. Petr Cech may take some responsibility for the goal, so unnecessary was his venture off the line, but ultimately Grant must hold up his hands. It was a bad day at the office for the Israeli. The deployment of Nicolas Anelka on the left was a criminal misuse of the French striker's ability and a major blow to Joe Cole, one of the players who has benefited most from the September departure of Jose Mourinho. The England midfielder has made 22 league appearances this season. Yet not until extra time did Grant usher his playmaker from the bench.

In contrast, Ramos appeared to do everything right. Paul Robinson, who was given a 10-game sentence on the bench to consider the error of his recent ways, returned to the big stage in majestic fashion. As Chelsea attempted to bludgeon their way through a deep-set five-man defence in the closing moments, it was Robinson who stuck out a leg to deny Salomon Kalou an equaliser and Chelsea a penalty shoot-out.

For a game that began in such dreary fashion, it finished on a high, half-an-hour's extra-time providing more thrills and spills than the previous 90 minutes put together.

Alan Hutton, who made his club debut against Manchester United, once again responded to the challenge. For denying Kalou at the death with an immaculately timed intervention, the former Rangers full-back repaid a hefty chunk of that £9m transfer fee.

Yet it was Ramos' other defensive signing that really caught the eye yesterday as Woodgate finally put behind him years of underachievement and misfortune. On his Real Madrid debut, he scored an own goal and was shown a red card for good measure. For Tottenham, the centre-half has barely put a foot wrong.

His header, something of a double whammy since his initial effort hit Cech's gloves and rebounded back on his forehead, was no more than Tottenham deserved. An irate Didier Drogba later confronted referee Mark Halsey about a penalty decision that did not go his way at the finish, Woodgate seemingly guilty of holding the Ivory Coast striker in a vice-like grip.

Drogba, sadly, only has himself to blame. Too often he cried wolf, his response to the slightest of knocks both elaborate and embarrassing for one built like a brick outhouse. Indeed, it was one such effusive plummet to the Wembley turf that persuaded Halsey to award the free-kick from which he scored in the 37th minute.

One minute Drogba was a stretcher case, the victim of Didier Zokora's alleged assault; the next he was the architect of his side's goal. In actual fact, the two players collided. Hence Gus Poyet's furious response in the technical area. Drogba goals accounted for Liverpool and Arsenal in previous League Cup finals. Yesterday he was on a hat trick.

Ramos, though, is not accustomed to losing knock-out finals and after a little chat at half-time, Tottenham emerged a different proposition. Lennon found his sea legs and set off at pace and within eight minutes of Tom Huddlestone's arrival, Dimitar Berbatov levelled from the penalty spot.

It was the referee's eagle-eyed assistant who spotted the infringement, a deliberate use of the arm to bring the ball under control by Wayne Bridge in the 68th minute. For Grant, it was another dastardly blow, having decided Bridge was the more reliable option at left- back given Ashley Cole's marital problems.

Twenty-three points and eight places separate the two sides in the Premier League yet as Berbatov flummoxed Cech with his impudent penalty kick, delayed for maximum effect, there was little to suggest title challengers Chelsea possessed the gumption or initiative to deny their capital cousins. With Woodgate and King standing firm and Lennon starting to make inroads, the writing was on the wall.

Chelsea's response was curiously inadequate. Replacing Shaun Wright-Phillips in the 72nd with Kalou did nothing to raise creativity levels in a midfield seemingly programmed to defend. Rarely has Lampard looked so subdued. So much for the expansive, passing game that the appointment of Grant was supposed to herald.

Instead, it was Ramos' Tottenham who took their chance, Anelka's clumsy felling of Lennon earning the free-kick that encouraged Woodgate to venture into the Chelsea box, one of just three white shirts amidst a sea of blue. Someone should have picked him up. Instead, Cech, a hero moments earlier when he denied Zokora with a brave block, left the ground distraught.