Birmingham City's form during the 2010-11 campaign had been mixed at best and they went into the Carling Cup final as underdogs against an Arsenal outfit who were 10 games unbeaten in the Premier League and who had just recorded a 2-1 victory over Barcelona.
Both teams had been forced to endure a rollercoaster ride during their respective semi-final contests, with the Blues securing an extra-time victory over West Ham United, while the Gunners had to overcome a first-leg deficit to get the better of Ipswich Town.
Birmingham City manager Alex McLeish selected striker Nikola Zigic ahead of Obafemi Martins, while Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger was able to call upon Robin van Persie, who had recovered from a hamstring problem to captain his team at Wembley.
The Blues started the match by forcing their more illustrious opponents onto the back foot, and they could count themselves unfortunate not to earn a penalty in the opening stages after Lee Bowyer was fouled by Wojciech Szczesny, but the midfielder was wrongly adjudged to have been offside.
Arsenal provided an immediate response to Birmingham's encouraging start, and goalkeeper Ben Foster had to be alert to turn away an Andrey Arshavin effort after he had found some space with a neat turn.
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Both teams continued to have no qualms about throwing men forward and after Samir Nasri had sent a curling effort over the crossbar, Keith Fahey and Bowyer registered shots on target as their side continue to match Arsenal.
Despite their underdog status, it came as no surprise when Birmingham took the lead on 28 minutes through Zigic, who reacted quickest to Roger Johnson's header back across goal to nod his side ahead.
It felt imperative that Birmingham held on to their advantage until half time, but moments after Jack Wilshere had struck the crossbar, Arsenal equalised when Van Persie collected Arshavin's cross before volleying the ball past a helpless Foster.
Arsenal began the second half with plenty of momentum but a series of corners failed to complete the turnaround as Birmingham looked to hold on to the 1-1 scoreline to take the North London outfit into the final stages of the match.
However, despite their reservations in defence, they looked increasingly threatening on the break, and they came within the width of a post to retaking the lead through Fahey, but his 20-yard effort struck the woodwork and bounced clear.
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The height of Zigic was frequently providing problems for the Arsenal defence, and on more than one occasion, it took a last-ditch intervention to ensure that the Gunners remained on level terms against a team that they had expected to beat to end their five-and-a-half-year trophy drought.
With 20 minutes to go, Arsenal turned up the intensity, and Foster was forced into action to deny Nasri and Nicklas Bendtner scoring the goal that would surely break Birmingham's fierce resistance.
However, McLeish opted to introduce Martins with six minutes remaining, and shortly before the end of normal time, the Nigerian struck to earn his new team a remarkable triumph.
There appeared to be little danger when Laurent Koscielny had the simple task of clearing the ball ahead of Szczesny, but the pair got in each other's way to allow Martins to tap the ball into an empty net, which also secured a place in the Europa League for the West Midlands club.
Despite one of the biggest victories in their history, Birmingham were unable to take the form into their final 12 league games and after picking up nine points during that period, they were relegated to the Championship.
As for Arsenal, they managed just two wins in their remaining 11 fixtures, but they comfortably ensured that they secured qualification for the following season's Champions League.
Darren Plant
