Cardiff City 2-2 Liverpool (2-3 on pens): Reds Edge Bluebirds To Win Carling Cup

Birmingham City, Arsenal, Alaves, AC Milan and West Ham United. Now you can add the name of Cardiff City to that list.

Liverpool have a habit of being involved in some of the most dramatic cup finals football has ever seen, and at Wembley, this year's Carling Cup final was no different. Ninety-minutes and extra-time could not separate the Reds and their Championship opponents, but, despite missing their opening two shoot-out spot-kicks, Kenny Dalglish's men reigned supreme to win a record 8th League Cup.

In their first visit to Wembley for 16 years and first since the impressive redevelopment of the famous stadium, Liverpool went into the game as red-hot favourites. After claiming that sentiment overruled his head last weekend when he instructed Luis Suarez to take a penalty against Brighton instead of the usual Dirk Kuyt, from which Suarez missed, Reds' boss Dalglish took a more professional approach by resisting the temptation to play Cardiff-born Craig Bellamy against his former club. Instead, Bellamy took his place on the bench alongside Kuyt as Dalglish continued with a front two of Suarez and Andy Carroll.

Looking for their first piece of silverware for 6 years, the Reds started strong, with Glen Johnson striking the bar from 25 yards inside the first two minutes. With Cardiff seemingly in awe of their more illustrious opponents, the Reds were afforded too much space and time in the opening 15 minutes, as they dominated possession and forced a series of corners.

But their failure to hit the target saw Cardiff gain in confidence. Kenny Miller fired over on the turn, before the Bluebirds took a shock lead on 19 minutes. Silver-haired full-back Kevin McNaughton's cross was poorly headed straight back to him by Martin Skrtel. Instead of delivering another cross, McNaughton cleverly disguised a pass to Miller on the edge of the box. The Scotland striker controlled and sent an inch-perfect pass through the Liverpool defence for Joe Mason to run onto and fire low under the advancing Pepe Reina.

Shocked to be a goal behind, Liverpool continued to dominate possession, but failed to create any clear cut chances. Carroll fired high and wide whilst Jordan Henderson failed to connect after great work down the left by Stewart Downing, who was enjoying his best display in a red shirt since his £20m summer move from Aston Villa.

After the break, the pattern was pretty much the same, with Cardiff holding firm against Liverpool's toothless attacks. As the travelling Kop started to get restless, Dalglish made his first substitution, with the ineffective Henderson replaced by former Bluebird Bellamy, who was given a rapturous welcome from both sets of fans. Within two minutes, the change paid off as Liverpool were level.

Downing's corner was flicked on towards Suarez, who with back to goal nodded against the post. As the ball rebounded out, Skrtel kept his composure to control and roll the ball underneath Cardiff keeper Tom Heaton. It was the centre-half's fourth goal of an impressive season.

Sensing victory, Liverpool attacked with gusto. Downing, who had switched to the right following Bellamy's introduction, repeatedly beat his marker to deliver into the box, only to find no Liverpool forward in the six yard box. It was the same story when Suarez capitalised on a bouncing ball to get to the byline and pass across goal, only for Cardiff to comfortably clear.

As the clock ticked on, Charlie Adam tested Heaton with a 20-yard drive, but the best chance to win the game fell to Cardiff with only minutes remaining. The ball broke to striker Miller eight yards out, but the forward rushed his effort and blasted over.

Liverpool had one more chance before the whistle when a long clearance fell to Suarez, but the Uruguayan, who didn't have the best of days, dallied too long before attempting a chip which sailed out of play.

So to extra-time. Suarez forced Heaton into a save low to his right, then saw a header cleared off the line by Andrew Taylor. With players from both teams feeling the effects of a pulsating tie, the fresher legs of Bellamy nearly brought a goal as he advanced past two or three challenges before firing just over.

Carroll then headed narrowly wide, before he was replaced by Kuyt two minutes before the end of the first period. The Dutchman had not won a trophy since arriving in 2006, so was eager to put things right. Three minutes after the restart, he looked to have done that. Picking up the ball midway inside the Cardiff half, Kuyt showed a burst of pace to get in between two Cardiff defenders. His low cross intended for Suarez was cleared by the outstretched leg of Anthony Gerrard, who had come on as a replacement for the excellent Mark Hudson. But as the ball rebounded back towards Kuyt, the Liverpool forward struck an instant shot which beat Heaton at his near post.

The Liverpool players and fans celebrated. Surely that was that. But this is Liverpool in a cup final we are talking about. Of course it wasn't over. A goal up, Liverpool sat deep and invited Cardiff onto them. It was a tactic which proved to be there undoing. With three minutes left, a Peter Whittingham corner led to Kuyt clearing off his line. From the resulting corner, Kuyt was again called into action, but as the ball broke free, Cardiff defender Ben Turner fired home from two yards.

The Cardiff fans went mad, whilst their Liverpool counterparts sunk in their seats. The stadium barely had time to regain its breath before ref Mark Clattenburg blew the final whistle to signal a penalty shoot-out.

So far this season, Liverpool have missed five penalties this season and things started in the same vein when Steven Gerrard's spot-kick was brilliantly saved by Heaton. Miller stepped up to give Cardiff the advantage, only to striker the outside of the post. Next up was Charlie Adam, but his kick was even worse as he hit it high, wide and not very handsome.

Finally order was restored when Cardiff midfielder Don Cowie calmly stroked the ball home to put the Bluebirds 1-0 up. Kuyt levelled matters, then Rudy Gestede struck a post. Downing coolly put Liverpool 2-1 up, before Whittingham was equally assured to make it 2-2.

Liverpool right-back Johnson, who had played most of extra-time with what looked like a groin injury, made it 3-2 with Liverpool's last kick, meaning Cardiff had to score to keep the game alive.

So often in Liverpool's recent history, games have been decided by Gerrard. The script was the same here, but this time it was Steven's cousin Anthony who wrote the headlines. When the Liverpool-born defender stroked his kick wide of Reina's right-hand post, Liverpool were victorious. The Reds players celebrated with Reina, whilst skipper Gerrard consoled his unfortunate cousin.

Whilst credit must go to Malky Mackay and Cardiff for their performance, it was Liverpool who climbed the Wembley steps to lift the trophy. Only 13 months into his second stint as manager at Anfield, Dalglish has brought silverware, the club's first since 2006. With a FA Cup quarter-final with Stoke coming up, the Reds will hope this is just the start.