Arsenal became only the second club in over 50 years to retain the FA Cup when a first half goal from Robert Pires secured a 1-0 victory over Southampton under the closed roof of the Millennium Stadium on Saturday.The Gunners, who lost their Premier League title two weeks ago and whose Champions League dreams faded in March, rescued their season from ending in an anti-climax with their ninth FA Cup win in a record 16th final appearance.It needed a goal-line clearance from a James Beattie header in the fourth minute of stoppage time to give Arsenal victory in 90 minutes as they retained the trophy they won last season by beating Chelsea.Pires scored with a shot on the turn after 38 minutes and although the Saints battled feverishly throughout, Arsenal were always just a little too classy.The victory was Arsenal’s third under manager Arsene Wenger in six seasons and they moved to within one victory of Manchester United’s all-time record 10 wins. They also emulated the achievements of their old rivals Tottenham Hotspur, the last club to retain the FA Cup in both 1962 and 1982. The last team before Spurs to do that was Newcastle United in 1951 and 1952. The Saints’ already tough cause was not helped when their giant Finnish goalkeeper Antii Niemi appeared to pull a muscle taking a goal-kick and was taken off on a stretcher after 66 minutes to be replaced by Paul Jones.At the other end David Seaman, at 39 the oldest goalkeeper to play in the Cup Final and the third oldest player ever, had a safe match, collecting his fourth FA Cup winners’ medal in what could be his last game for the club.Captaining his side to victory - only the second goalkeeper in FA Cup history to do that — he made one outstanding save from Brett Ormerod after 84 minutes but did not have much else to do. He had Ashley Cole to thank for keeping out Beattie’s goalbound header after 94 minutes when the England defender cleared the ball off the line.Arsenal, playing without injured skipper Patrick Vieira and suspended centre-back Sol Campbell, could have gone ahead as early as the 23rd second. Henry had a chance to score the fastest goal in Cup final history when he broke clear, only for Niemi to save with his legs. Arsenal gradually took control for long periods of the half, but Southampton, with Wayne Bridge overlapping well and their skipper Chris Marsden looking to get forward at every opportunity, had more than matched them when the Gunners scored after their best move of the half.Ray Parlour started it with a run and pass to Henry on the right. Henry played a perfectly weighted pass to the overlapping Dennis Bergkamp who then slipped another good ball inside to Freddie Ljungberg. (Reuters)
