Obafemi Martins was the star of yesterday’s Carling Cup final between Birmingham and Arsenal at the Wembly Stadium. Obafemi rose from the bench to slot home the winner to give Birmingham a shock win over the much favoured Arsenal team.

ECSTACY : Nigeria and Birmingham City striker Obafemi Martins celebrates after scoring the winner against Arsenal in Sunday’s Carling Cup final at Wembley. Martins goal ended Birmingham’s nearly half a century trophy-less era.

It was Birmingham’s first trophy in 47 years.

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger on his side’s Carling Cup final defeat: “A little misunderstanding had great consequences for the result. After that there was no time to come back and rectify it. I blame nobody, these kind of things are part of the game.

It is very disappointing but we have to pick ourselves up for the next games — it is a good opportunity to show our mental strength, which I believe  is great.”

The Eagles striker who is on loan from Rubin Kazan benefitted from a mix-up between Arsenal keeper Wojciech Szczesny and Laurent Koscielny and quietly grabbed the winner in the 89th minute. This was after Birmingham had drawn the first blood when Nikola Zigic headed home the first goal of the match.

Dutchman Robin van Persie drew  level before half-time.

Birmingham started positively and were on the wrong end of a controversial decision after only two minutes.
Craig Gardner’s through ball played in Lee Bowyer who was brought down inside the area by Gunners keeper Wojciech Szczesny.

But one of the referee’s assistants flagged for offside when replays showed that Bowyer had timed his run perfectly.
Van Persie had the first effort on goal after chasing down a lob from Jack Wilshere but his shot from a narrow angle was wide of the target.

Blues keeper Ben Foster kept his side on level terms when he blocked a low shot from Andrey Arshavin after he had collected a pass from Samir Nasri and turned past Martin Jiranek.

Birmingham boss Alex McLeish on his side’s Carling Cup triumph: “It feels like the best ever at the moment. In relative terms for a small club like ours to beat Arsenal was a titanic effort from our players. I am so pleased for the fans, they have craved victory for a long time.”

Birmingham centre_back Roger Johnson, who played on despite being injured in the second half: “I was never coming off, I think I pulled my calf. I’m pleased I didn’t, what a time to win it! First and foremost we have done it for us, the club and the fans.”

Ben Foster got a hearty handshake from England boss Fabio Capello when he went to receive his winners’ medal, and man-of-the-match award too. That was a fantastic Wembley performance from the Birmingham keeper, who made a series of superb second-half saves while the score was still 1-1.

Nicklas Bendtner, who had a season on loan at Birmingham four years ago, replaced Van Persie after 69 minutes.
And it was Martins who put Birmingham ahead with a minute remaining of the 90 minutes.

Koscielny and Szczesny were involved in a mix_up dealing with a Zigic flick on Martins turned in the loose ball.
It proved to be the winner and sparked scenes of joy from the Blues players at the final whistle.