The Carling Cup Final was certainly an incident filled one; Theo Walcott scoring his first goal with aplomb, John Terry's sickening injury, an ugly brawl at the end and Didier Drogba getting even closer to 30 goals this season.
Somewhere amidst all that, however, one of the Chelsea players did his job and played just as large a part in winning them the Cup - Peter Cech.

Prior to the final, Cech had let in just one goal in seven games, the solitary strike coming in the Champions League match against Porto. While he could do nothing about Walcott's goal, which was perfectly placed, Cech turned in an extremely competent performance.

In addition to making several crucial blocks, he also excelled in an area that is often taken for granted when it comes to goalkeepers, and yet is one of the most difficult - crosses. While David James is an excellent shot-stopper, his tendency to flap at crosses has contributed to some of the 'softer' goals he has conceded in his career. Jose Reina, too, probably left many Liverpool fans and players with jangled nerves after some indecision on crosses almost cost his side against Barcelona.

Cech on the other hand, is superb at handling crosses, and he demonstrated that on Sunday. Even after Terry had been lost to injury, Arsenal posed negligible aerial threat on the Chelsea goal for the simple reason that the Chelsea keeper claimed almost every cross that came into the box.

Michael Dawson of Spurs recently made the following comment following Paul Robinson's return to form: "Robbo made a couple of great saves and it is good to have someone behind you when you give away the odd chance who can pull you out of trouble". If that is the case, Chelsea's defence would surely have been buoyed by the supreme confidence with which Cech dealt with anything and everything that was thrown at him, bar one slight fumble on a difficult bouncing ball towards the end of the first half.

Many people, including Jose Mourinho, lamented the loss of Terry when he was out injured, saying that his absence may well have cost them the Premiership title. While Terry is undoubtedly Chelsea's talisman, I think that Cech's absence due to the collision with Reading’s Stephen Hunt in October may well have been just as crucial, if not more so. Cech's replacement, Hilario, never looked confident with both his handling and distribution and could have done much better with many of the goals he let in - the games against Tottenham and Arsenal providing clear examples. Not that I'm complaining, though – I’m a Tottenham fan!