LONDON, Feb 25: Tottenham Hotspur ended their long spell in the wilderness on Sunday with a 2-1 defeat of Chelsea to win the English League Cup final at Wembley.

Jonathan Woodgate, signed in January to shore up Tottenham’s leaky defence, proved the unlikely hero at the other end, heading the winner four minutes into extra time to clinch a first trophy for the north Londoners since the 1999 League Cup.

There was an element of luck about the goal as the ball cannoned into his forehead after goalkeeper Petr Cech made a mess of dealing with a Jermaine Jenas free kick but it was reward for Tottenham who played the more enterprising football.

A strangely subdued Chelsea, winners of both domestic cups last season under former boss Jose Mourinho, were leading until 20 minutes from full time thanks to Didier Drogba’s superb 39th-minute free kick. But Tottenham’s Bulgarian Dimitar Berbatov levelled it up from the penalty spot.

Ledley King, out since the 5-1 semi-final defeat of Arsenal last month, lifted the trophy in front of the club’s ecstatic fans who are now guaranteed UEFA Cup football next season.

Tottenham manager Juande Ramos, who had a 100 per cent winning record in cup finals with Sevilla, said winning a trophy so early into his Spurs reign was extra special.

“This is a beautiful experience,” Ramos, who replaced Martin Jol early this season, told reporters. “It’s been a unique experience and one I hope I will be repeating again.

“It’s tremendously satisfying to get the title and the trophy for the fans and the club. It’s a long time since we achieved success and for such a big club like Spurs it seems even longer.”

His Chelsea counterpart Avram Grant complained about a harsh penalty award but conceded Tottenham deserved the win.

“They started well and also after they equalised they were a bit more dangerous than us.” he said.

Tottenham began as underdogs but dominated the opening stages as Chelsea’s front three of Drogba, Nicolas Anelka and Shaun Wright Phillips hardly got a kick.

Pascal Chimbonda looped a header onto the top of the crossbar and the first meaningful save of the day came from Cech who got down low to turn away a Steed Malbranque snap shot that was creeping inside the post.

It took Chelsea half an hour to register their first shot in anger with Frank Lampard’s speculative long shot.

Drogba then tried his luck with a free kick after his Ivory Coast colleague Didier Zokora had bundled over Wright Phillips.

Zokora’s next rash challenge proved costly for his side.

This time he sent Drogba sprawling theatrically to the lush Wembley turf to earn a yellow card and the striker picked himself up to curl a free kick past a static Paul Robinson.

Tottenham were running out of ideas after the break but the softest of penalties gave them a lifeline.

There seemed little danger as the ball was played across the area but an eagle-eyed referee’s assistant spotted a handball by Wayne Bridge under pressure from Tom Huddlestone.

Berbatov was the coollest person in the stadium as he nonchalantly rolled it past Cech to make it 1-1.

As extra time beckoned Zokora spurned a glorious chance to put Spurs with just Cech to beat.

Ramos rallied his troops for extra time and they needed just four minutes to go ahead. Jenas curled in a dangerous free kick and Woodgate got the slenderest of touches as Cech flapped.

Spurs survived a big scare with virtually the last kick when Salomon Kalou’s shot scraped the post but they hung on for their fourth League Cup title and a repeat of their 1967 FA Cup final victory over their west London rivals.—Reuters