Jonathan Woodgate may not be able to find a house in London, but he will always have a home at Wembley after this. A winning goal in extra time to deliver the first trophy for Tottenham Hotspur this century should ensure that next time he searches for accommodation in the capital, the northern suburbs hold particular appeal.

Woodgate was widely ridiculed last week for complaining that London property prices were exorbitant, even on £65,000 a week, so his estate agent will be hoping that he is also eligible for a trophy, a win or at least a goal bonus, having seen his client qualify for all three in one match.

Woodgate was slightly lucky to score in the third minute of extra time yesterday, the final touch that sent the ball into Chelsea’s net coming off his nose rather than his forehead, but it was no more than Tottenham deserved, having been considerably the better side for almost all of the 120 minutes. Even Chelsea’s first-half lead came against the run of play.

If this was a triumph for Woodgate, Tottenham and Juande Ramos, their head coach – who has been at White Hart Lane less than four months – it was a catastrophe for Chelsea’s regime under Avram Grant. There was nothing to suggest that Grant has advanced the club one iota since the departure of José Mourinho, who, Chelsea fans will recall, never lost a final in three seasons. Grant’s team bore more than a passing resemblance to the one that got Mourinho the sack in September. They played dull, direct football, with their most inventive player, Joe Cole, stranded on the sidelines. And they lost. This is what happens when an owner phones a friend instead of a manager with vision, which is what Tottenham sought once it had been decided that Martin Jol was not the man for the job.

In Ramos, they have secured an experienced coach at the peak of his powers, and with a place in the last 16 of the Uefa Cup already safe – albeit with a difficult tie against PSV Eindhoven, the best team in the Netherlands to come next month – who knows what will have been achieved by the end of his first season?

Tottenham are the most improved team in the country under his stewardship and on this evidence will clearly be stalking the top four next season.

They snuffed out Chelsea defensively and overran them in midfield, and it was only in the final 15 minutes that Grant’s players came to life. Between Didier Drogba’s goal in the 38th minute and a free kick from an acute angle by Frank Lampard nine minutes into injury time, Chelsea offered nothing. As Drogba’s goal was a dead ball, too, in terms of memorable chances from open play, Chelsea had none between the 22nd second of the match proper, when Juliano Belletti had a shot deflected, and the 112th minute when Paul Robinson, the Tottenham goalkeeper, saved at the feet of Salomon Kalou, a substitute.

Not that the situation in Chelsea’s goalmouth was exactly a siege, but Tottenham demonstrated greater ambition, created better chances and could have wrapped the game up without the additional 30 minutes had Didier Zokora not missed the chance of the game with ten minutes remaining, when set clear by Robbie Keane. With Chelsea’s defence horribly square, Zokora had only Petr Cech, the goalkeeper, to beat, but his hesitation belied a man gripped by fear and he blasted the ball directly at Cech, striking him in the face before sending the rebound soaring high and wide.

At other times, there were opportunities for Pascal Chimbonda, Dimitar Berbatov twice, Woodgate and Steed Malbranque. Cech was called into action on three occasions while, at the other end, Robinson, who is plainly still vulnerable after a traumatic season, was scarcely troubled. Had Chelsea demonstrated more purpose, it could have been interesting because, despite good reaction saves, there was frailty in the performance of the England man. There is a trend to pick at every goal Robinson concedes, yet questions deserve to be asked about the way Chelsea took the lead.

Zokora fouled Drogba roughly 20 yards out, but the sight of goal he was given from the free kick was laughable. Keane tucked in on the end of the wall as the kick was being taken, leaving Robinson’s left side exposed, and the goalkeeper had positioned himself behind his wall, which seemed bizarre. The result was a huge unguarded target and Drogba could as good as side-foot the ball into the net, with power, and did. There followed a dismal passage of play in which Chelsea were content to bore their way to victory and Tottenham appeared incapable of stopping them, until Wayne Bridge, the defender, handed them a lifeline.

Bridge, whose previous start at Wembley was a dismal performance in the European Championship qualifying group defeat by Croatia, did not so much stop the ball with his hands in the 68th minute as juggle it in a tussle with Tom Huddlestone and the resulting penalty was feathered to Cech’s right by Berbatov, a fine display of bravado that gave Tottenham deserved equality. Still, Chelsea did not awake from slumber and when Woodgate won the game in the 93rd minute, the pleasure was not so much in seeing one of the elite cartel vanquished, but of justice being done.

Jermaine Jenas slung a deep free kick into the penalty area, Woodgate lost his marker, Belletti, and got to the ball before the advancing Cech. His header struck the goalkeeper, but it rebounded, hit Woodgate and dropped into the Chelsea net. By the time Chelsea became alert to the crisis, it was too late. Joe Cole was introduced in the 98th minute and made a difference, but Chelsea’s frantic urgency was in stark contrast to the somnambulant performance that had gone before.

At the end, John Terry and Drogba had to be pulled away from Mark Halsey, the referee, claiming that he had blown the final whistle with Chelsea on the attack through Kalou. The point was moot. Chelsea had two hours to do that and chose not to; anyway, Kalou’s shot hit a post.

No worthier was Chimbonda, the Tottenham defender, who went down the tunnel in a huff having been substituted in the 60th minute for Huddlestone. He returned for the celebrations after the final whistle, as if team spirit can be switched on and off like a tap, an incongruous William Gallas figure on a day of celebration.

Referee M Halsey

Attendance 87,660

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