WEMBLEY: Manchester City ended its 35-year trophy drought Saturday by winning the FA Cup after Yaya Toure's second-half goal secured a 1-0 win over Stoke. Toure struck with an unstoppable shot in the 74th minute after Mario Balotelli's deflected effort fell into his path. The Ivory Coast midfielder was immediately mobbed by his teammates as City celebrated a deserved goal. Roberto Mancini's expensively-assembled side had dominated the first half without reward, with Thomas Sorensen saving brilliantly from Balotelli and David Silva missing the target from close range. Stoke's best chance fell to Kenwyne Jones in the 61st minute but the striker was denied by City goalkeeper Joe Hart. Tony Pulis's side piled forward in the closing minutes, but City's defense held firm and the final whistle was greeted by a roar of relief from the blue half of Wembley Stadium. “In my opinion, we deserved it,” said Mancini, celebrating his first silverware since taking charge of the team in 2009, a year after the takeover by Abu Dhabi businessman Sheikh Mansour. Toure, a 24 million pound buy from Barcelona, also scored a second-half winner against United in the semifinal, and Mancini added: “We bought him for this. Yaya is an incredible player.” City's triumph came on the same day as cross-city rival Manchester United won its 19th English league title, but that was far from the minds of the City fans, some of whom shed tears as they celebrated a first trophy since the 1976 League Cup, and a fifth FA Cup win. Stoke was playing in the FA Cup final for the first time in its 148-year history and the team's supporters were in fine voice as they sang the club's unofficial anthem, Tom Jones' Delilah, ahead of kickoff. However, while the fans reveled in the Wembley experience, Stoke's players appeared to be overawed by the occasion as City dominated most of the game. “They played the best stuff on the day,” goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen said. “It's disappointing that we didn't play better. We've done so in the past – especially lately, we've done really well – that's the most disappointing thing.”
