Town’s Carling Cup Wembley dream finally came to an end as goals from Nicklas Bendtner, Laurent Koscielny and Cesc Fabregas consigned Paul Jewell’s men to a 3-0 semi-final second leg defeat at the Emirates. The Blues, a goal up from the first leg, held out for 151 minutes of both games before conceding two goals in three minutes just after the hour mark and then the third in the 77th minute.

Boss Paul Jewell named the side which was expected, Mark Kennedy returning in the holding midfield role he filled in the first leg at Portman Road. The cup-tied Lee Martin dropped out and skipper David Norris moved to the right of a five-man midfield.

Arsenal included Cesc Fabregas, Robin Van Persie and Andrey Arshavin but left Samir Nasri and Theo Walcott amongst their substitutes.

Grant Leadbitter showed Town’s attacking intent with a hugely ambitious shot after the ball was laid to him from the kick-off, the ball flying only narrowly over Wojciech Szczesny’s crossbar. At the other end, Van Persie almost played in Bendtner but the ball ran through to Blues keeper Márton Fülöp.

With the 9,000-strong Town support — which included former Blue Fabian Wilnis - singing ‘1-0 to the rugby team’, Van Persie sent a volley wide, then in the fifth minute the Blues won their first corner but were unable to threaten from Leadbitter’s ball into the box.

The Blues backline and Damien Delaney in particular reacted angrily in the 10th minute after what replays showed was an obvious Fabregas dive as the Spaniard had run past Gareth McAuley on the left of the Town area.

In the 14th minute Norris won a freekick on the right and Leadbitter sent in a cross which McAuley headed over, Arsenal pair Bacary Sagna and keeper Szczesny both requiring treatment due to a clash of heads after the ball had gone. The Frenchman was down for some while and when he got back to his feet looked groggy and was replaced by Emmanuel Eboue at right-back.

On 18 Fabregas was played in on the right of the area by Bendtner but his low shot from a tight angle was saved by Fülöp down to his right.

The home side were close to getting ahead on the night and level in the tie in the 23rd minute when Bendtner stood up a cross from the right and Van Persie headed the ball on to the Town crossbar at the far post. A minute later, Connor Wickham got his name in Mark Halsey’s book for a somewhat wild lunge on Eboue.

There was a further scare for the Blues in the 33rd minute when Fülöp failed to gather the ball when under pressure from a freekick played in from midway inside the Town half. The loose ball eventually ran to Bendtner but his shot was blocked by Delaney.

Fülöp blocked from Van Persie as the Dutchman ran on to a Fabregas ball but from an offside position with the Gunners by now putting the pressure on and the Blues at times defending desperately to hang on to their lead from the first leg.

Laurent Koscielny joined Wickham in referee Halsey’s book in the 34th minute for a late tackle on Leadbitter. The Blues had had a number of opportunities to threaten from set pieces in dangerous areas but were yet to test Szczesny.

Town had another lucky escape as the half moved into its final 10 minutes, Jack Wilshere playing in Fabregas with a deft ball behind the Town defence but the Arsenal captain somehow put his shot across the face of goal.

There were a couple of minor worries for Town as the half moved towards injury time, Bendtner had two efforts blocked, then O’Dea made a superb saving challenge on Van Persie as the Dutchman took the ball into the area at pace.

After four minutes of injury time, largely for the Sagna injury, referee Halsey blew his whistle to signal that Town’s job had been half done.

The Blues had defended stoutly and as at Portman Road prevented Arsenal from playing too much of their trademark passing into the area, holding a line on the edge of the box when under pressure.

They had ridden their luck on one or two occasions and had Arsenal’s finishing been better they could certainly have been behind, but Town were always going to need some good fortune if they were to get the result they were looking for.

Attacking-wise, the Blues had created little in the way of chances, although they had had one or two opportunities from set pieces when they might have done better.

The first chance of the second half fell for O’Dea in the second minute, the on-loan Celtic man hitting a shot across the face of goal after Leadbitter’s corner had fallen loose in the area.

But the home side were soon putting on the pressure again, Edwards and O’Dea doing well to take the ball away from Fabregas on the edge of the box on 52.

In the 58th minute Delaney cut out a Jack Wilshere cross as Arsenal continued to play the game almost entirely around the edge of the Town penalty box.

The home side finally got the tie back on level pegging just after the hour mark. Wilshere played a sweeping ball wide to Bendtner on the left behind Edwards and the Danish striker took it down with the outside of his foot before cutting inside the Town full-back and curling a shot beyond Fülöp. Almost almost immediately Paul Jewell replaced Tamás Priskin with Jason Scotland.

Three minutes after the first goal, Arsenal scored a second to put them ahead in the tie for the first time. Arshavin whipped a corner in from the left and Koscielny beat Fülöp to the ball and headed into the empty net.

The sudden turnaround had been harsh on the Blues who tried to hit back on 68 when Healy played in Scotland on the left of the area but the Trinidadian’s shot from a tight angle was easy for Szczesny. At the other end Van Persie headed wide.

On 75 Shane O’Connor replaced Colin Healy and moved to the left of midfield as the Blues switched to 4-4-2 with Wickham joining Scotland up front.

Fabregas shot wide after bringing the ball in from the left on 76, then a minute later sealed his side’s place at Wembley as he and Arshavin exchanged passes as they broke quickly, the Spaniard slipping the ball past Fülöp and into the net. Town had been caught pushing men forward trying to get themselves back into the game.

The Blues were beginning to look very vulnerable each time Arsenal broke forward with legs tiring and more players having been committed to attacks. On 82 Norris headed over from O’Connor’s cross from the left after a dainty flick by Delaney.

Van Persie and Arshavin were replaced by Theo Walcott and Samir Nasri for the final five minutes then two minutes later the game was briefly held up when an Arsenal supporter ran on the pitch.

Wickham and Edwards had shots blocked as the game moved into injury time but Town never really looked like getting a goal back, while the Gunners looked to have settled for the three goals in the period after the fan-induced stoppage.

At the final whistle it was the home fans who were singing about an impending trip to Wembley but Town had had held their own for much of the two ties and were probably a touch unlucky to lose by three on the night and 3-1 on aggregate.

The second goal coming so soon after the first might have caused the side to buckle as at Chelsea, but there seems to be a greater steel to the team in the weeks since that result and that type of thrashing never looked likely in either game.

As in the first leg, the Blues proved difficult for Arsenal to break down but unlike in the home tie created little on the break. The third Gunners goal came with Town starting to chase the game with men pushed forward.

The Blues, who were warmly applauded by their 9,000-strong following after the whistle, can hold their heads high having taken Arsene Wenger’s side so close and doing somewhat better than several Premier League teams have recently, even if in the end it wasn’t quite enough to take them to a Wembley final.

Town: Fülöp, Edwards, O’Dea, McAuley, Delaney, Kennedy, Leadbitter, Healy (O’Connor 75), Norris, Wickham, Priskin (Scotland 63). Unused: Lee-Barrett, Peters, Hyam, Smith, Civelli.

Arsenal: Szczesny, Sagna (Eboue 17), Koscielny, Djourou, Clichy, Denilson, Wilshere, Fabregas, Arshavin (Nasri 85), Bendtner, Van Persie (Walcott 85). Unused: Shea, Song, Gibbs, Chamakh. Referee Mark Halsey (Lancashire). Att: 59,387.

Photo: Action Images

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