Birmingham Wins the Carling Cup

For the first time since 1963, Birmingham City are the winners of England's Carling Cup using and 89th minute strike from Obafemi Martins to beat Arsenal 2-1. Birmingham sits just two points above relegation in the Premier League so this win is HUGE for them in a season when they've won just 6 of 26 league matches. 6'8" striker Nikola Zigic opened the scoring in the 28th minute, but Arsenal's Robin Van Persie equalized a little over ten minutes later. While Arsenal dominated the game from a possession standpoint, they couldn't capitalize, and Martins made them pay when goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny and Laurent Koscielny had a horrendous miscommunication allowing an easy uncontested winner from the Nigerian import.

Photo Courtesy: zimbio.com

The dramatic late in the game scoring has been nothing new to Birmingham in this tournament as they got a 90th minute goal from Kevin Phillips to tie the score against Brentford, and a 94th minute strike from Craig Gardner to give Birmingham the 4-3 aggregate win in the semis over West Ham.  Birmingham got goals from 12 different players in their 7 game run to the championship. Zigic had 3 to lead the team.

Here's a look at Birmingham's improbable run to the title:

August 26 - Round 2 - W 3-2 vs Rochdale (Lg 1)
September 21 - Round 3 - W 3-1 vs Milton Keynes Dons (Lg 1)
October 26 - Round 4 - T 1-1 (W 4-3 pens) vs Brentford (Lg 1)
December 1 - Quarters - W 2-1 vs Aston Villa
January 11 - Semis Leg 1 - L 2-1 @ West Ham
January 26 - Semis Leg 2 - W 3-1 vs West Ham
February 27 - Finals - W 2-1 at Arsenal