Dreadful in the match proper, when he was responsible for two West Ham goals, the Spanish goalkeeper atoned by saving three penalties in the shootout that settled the issue after two hours of thrill-a-minute football. Reina was the man of the moment, but Steven Gerrard unquestionably the man of the match, turning in a colossal performance highlighted by two goals, the second of which, a 90th-minute equaliser, broke West Ham's hearts at a time when their thoughts were turning to a celebratory knees-up.
The match had been evenly contested, but the shootout was one-sided. Dietmar Hamann scored confidently with the first (do the Germans ever miss?) then Reina hurled himself low to his right to deny Bobby Zamora. West Ham's hopes soared like those bubbles of theirs when Shaka Hislop saved easily from Sami Hyypia and Teddy Sheringham made it 1-1, but as usual they faded and died. Gerrard made it 2-1 to Liverpool, Paul Konchesky found Reina's suddenly safe hands, and when John Arne Riise hit the target with a characteristically authoritative thump for 3-1, Anton Ferdinand had to score to keep the Hammers' hopes alive. Reina saved again, and that was that.
All praise to Liverpool, who set the benchmark for comebacks when they won the European Cup 12 months ago, but pity poor West Ham, who made it the thriller it was by going 2-0 and then 3-2 up. Unfortunately, as several of their distraught players observed afterwards, nobody remembers the losers. They had made all the right pre-match noises, dedicating their appearance in the final to Ron Greenwood and John Lyall, two distinguished former managers who died during the season, and evoking the spirit of Wimbledon's “Crazy Gang”, who upset Liverpool at Wembley in 1989. More significantly, Dean Ashton had shaken off hamstring trouble to take his place at the cutting edge of a full-strength team. He turned in a tremendous shift, unsettling Liverpool defenders with his strong, intelligent runs, and can never have played better.
It must have disconcerted Liverpool that Djibril Cisse, who is so often caught in two minds on the field, appeared to have had the same problem in the dressing room, and turned out in odd boots, one red and the other white. In mitigation, he scored, appropriately with the red one, and by the end the great exhibitionist had changed to luminous yellow.
The odds favoured Liverpool, but West Ham are splendidly resurgent under Alan Pardew's increasingly impressive management and the 125th final had all the makings. West Ham set the roller-coaster in motion with the first goal after 21 minutes. Xabi Alonso's careless loss of possession enabled Ashton to supply Lionel Scaloni, whose cross from the right appeared to pose no more than a routine threat.
Be that as it may, Reina and Jamie Carragher made a dreadful hash of dealing with it. The goalkeeper came off his line and failed to get to the ball and Carragher, startled, got his feet into a tangle and succeeded only in turning it into his own net. West Ham's second, seven minutes later, was also a gift. Matthew Etherington drove through Hyypia's tackle on the 18-yard line before firing in a shot which bisected sliding challenges by Gerrard and Carragher en route to Reina. Again the keeper was found wanting, spilling the ball at the feet of Ashton, who was left with a simple tap-in. Liverpool were back in it after 32 minutes, when Gerrard's long, lofted pass cut out Scaloni and Ferdinand for Cisse to score with a right-foot volley.
After 54 minutes Liverpool were level. Alonso played the ball into the penalty area where Peter Crouch and Fernando Morientes both went up for the header, England's totem knocking it down for Gerrard to score with a crushing shot from 13 yards. Their two-goal lead now but a memory, suddenly it was the Irons whose mettle was being put to the test. To their credit, they rose to the challenge and were back in front within 10 minutes with a goal that will haunt Reina. Etherington sent Konchesky away on the left, from where he directed a long cross to the far post. Poor Reina turned it into a shot, jumping under the ball, which nestled into his top left corner. His job done and his old injury playing up, Ashton gave way to Zamora with 19 minutes left. At the same time Crouch went off, to derisory cries of “what a waste of inches” from the East End's finest.
The normal 90 minutes were up when Gerrard exploded the equaliser past Hislop. The stage was set for Reina, who was transformed from villain to hero in five breathless minutes.