Arsenal 3 - 1 Tottenham, 5-3 on aggregate

Goals from Emmanuel Adebayor, Jeremie Aliadiere and Tomas Rosicky (well.. an own goal by Pascal Chimbonda), gave Arsenal a hard-fought but well-deserved victory over Spurs in the Carling Cup Semi-Final second leg at Ashburton Grove. Arsenal had taken the lead in a tense game through Adebayor in the 77th minute, in a game in which they dominated possession with scant reward. Fabregas and Rosicky had come one by then, and it was the latter who found the Togostick in space, allowing him to slot a left-footed shot past Fatty Robinson.

Unfortunately, with 5 minutes remaining, Mido equalised for the Scum. I was most unperturbed by this, because I was firmly under the impression that away goals mattered, and I couldn't understand why the commentators were acting like Tottenham were back in it, until I realised that they were actually - back in it; away goals only counted after the end of extra-time. Devious.

So, anyhoo. Extra time it was. Unfortunate, because Arsenal could have held out, but Mido had scored a very good header. The free kick leading up to it was quite soft, and reminescent of the first leg. It was out on the right-flank, in the right-back position, and the feisty Denilson went shoulder to shoulder with a Spurs player. Huddlestone curled a free kick into the near post area, and this time Mido outjumped Kolo Toure to score a great header, as opposed to Baptista's unfortunate own goal last time around. The free kick in the first leg had been horribly soft, this one slightly less so. Questions could be asked about the defence, but when a 5'10" Kolo has been outjumped by a 6'2" Mido then you have to just get on with it.

And get on with it the Arsenal did. What great character this young side shows. Instead of getting nervous and starting to crumble, they just picked up their game and went at Spurs, with amazing confidence and control. Fabregas continues to be a class apart from everything else around him, and what a player Denilson looks. For an 18-year old Brazilian kid who's barely played at first-team level to come to a new country and put in performances like this, he must have exceptional character. He's always fighting hard for the ball, always chasing, harrying, tackling, and never hesitates to shout or communicate with his teammate (whether or not it's in English.. I don't know). He's also got a wickedly venomous shot on him - 5 or 6 times Robinson had to parry absolute thunderbolts away. his technique to hit those is fantastic because he was launching them off volleys, half-volleys and straight off the ground. He's also got great control, vision and, being Brazilian... more than a few tricks up his sleeve.

Ok, back to the game. Well extra-time was a strange affair, because Spurs barely touched the ball. Arsenal were maruding with little reward, but things were still OK because they would still go through on away goals if the scores remained the same after extra-time.

If the game was somewhat close by the 90th minute, it ended with the possession being 61% in favour of the Arsenal, with the Gunners also having 11 shots on target to Spurs' 3. Still the White Lillies managed to hold out. Desperate stuff. That is until their pretty-boy Portuguese sub, Ricardo Rocha decided to stoop to about 5 millimetres above the turf to get in a diving headed clearance. He failed miserably of course, and Aliadiere pounced on the rebound and smacked it past Robinson's near post. It's a great moment for the young man who's been here as long as Thierry Henry but never really shone. He's scored the winning goal in a cup semi-final that's also a North London derby. It couldn't get much better, and hopefully he'll get his chance in the final.

Arsenal continued to dominate the game, and there were a few chances wasted here and there, but also some good keeping and defending on the part of Spurs. The icing was firmly laid on the cake however, when on a break, Adebayor flicked onto Rosicky, who turned brilliantly in the box, shimmed and dribbled past a few defenders (leaving Rocha for dead, what a great game for him), and smacked a shot off the inside of the near post that then hit Chimbonda and went in. The Spuds had a few corners after that, but really there was no chance of coming back from there.

So well done to the kids, although some of those kids - Fabregas (19), Senderos (21), Clichy (22), Hoyte (20), Adebayor (23) - are very, very experienced now. Good on them.

Amongst the other youngsters, Traore was decent again. Physically for a 17-year-old he is incredible. Fast, tough, tall, and reasonably skillful, but lacking defensive nous. He will get that with experience.

Walcott (17) was okay, promising, but no end-product still.

Diaby (20) continuing his rehabilitation after Dan Smith's disgusting tackle on him last year was much improved. Ineffective in the first leg, he passed and held up the ball well, showing his skill and a bit of the Vieira-ness he seems to have about him.

So Cardiff and Chelsea lie in wait, and although the selection for the final will be interesting, i'm sure the youngsters will still get their chance. Not only has Arsene Wenger never won this trophy, he has never reached the final of it, so he will not want to have his players underperform.