a fumble from reading goalkeeper adam federici in extra time handed arsenal a 2 1 victory and a place in the fa cup final the royals keeper, who had made some fine saves earlier in the match, allowed alexis sanchez's low shot to squirm between his legs and over the line on 115 minutes, which was enough to see the gunners return to wembley on may 30 to try to defend the trophy sanchez had swept the gunners into the lead on 39 minutes however, reading were level when garath mccleary's volley was deflected past goalkeeper wojciech szczesny, who could only palm the ball back over the line sami mokbel rated the players' performances at wembley alexis sanchez's low shot squirmed agonisingly through the legs of reading goalkeeper adam federici  reading (4 4 2) adam federici 6  made a string of excellent saves before that moment he'll want to forget won't sleep for a week chris gunter 7  did an admiral job in dealing with sanchez steady performance from the right back michael hector 85  performed superbly in the heart of reading's well drilled back four looks to have a big future alex pearce 8  a dominant figure for the wembley underdogs the skipper lead by example jordan obita 7  got forward as often as possible to provide reading with an attacking outlet federici tries desperately to stop the ball going over the line after it rolled through his legs and out of his grasp  garath mccleary 75  showed discipline in helping gunter cope with sanchez before shocking wembley with the equaliser nathaniel chalobah 7  composed in central midfield and worked hard in protecting his defenders booked daniel williams 75  a combative display in the reading engine room didn't give arsenal's midfield a second's peace hal robson kanu 65  good tussle with debuchy gave as good as he got down the royals' left side before begin subbed jamie mackie 65  always looking to play off mertesacker's shoulder; his movement and pace caused problems arsenal striker danny welbeck (centre) has an effort blocked by reading goalkeeper adam federici  pavel pogrebnyak 7  the focal point of reading's attack excellent contribution to mccleary's goal subs  jem karacan (on for robson kanu, 89) 65  added legs to reading's midfield for extra time simon cox (on for chalobah, 105) 6  thrown on as reading searched for a second leveller yakubu (on for pogrebnyak, 111) n/a  couldn't muster some of his old magic to save reading subs not used: kelly, norwood, andersen, cooper  manager  steve clarke 75  his side were brilliantly organised from the outset the scot can be mightily proud of his troops gareth mccleary's second half strike went over the line for reading after a deflection from keiran gibbs  arsenal (4 2 3 1) wojciech szczesny 65  he'll have nightmares about mccleary's goal, but it's hard to blame him for the equaliser mathieu debuchy 65  his first appearance since january 11 and it showed in patches as the frenchman lacked match sharpness per mertesacker 6  went close with an early header before limping off early in the second half laurent koscielny 75  took a whack to his nose in a early collision with mackie but recovered to be the dominant figure in arsenal's defence striker sanchez (right)  celebrates alongside team mate keiran gibbs after scoring for arsenal against reading  kieran gibbs 6  not been regular of late and it showed looked a little rusty at times francis coquelin 65  as ever, put a real shift in but didn't do enough to stem reading's second half tide santi cazorla 7  the spaniard saw plenty of the ball, pulling the strings for the gunners on a tense afternoon aaron ramsey 65  playing down the right doesn't suit the welshman and how did he miss that chance to score in the final five minutes? mesut ozil 8  unlocked the door with an excellent pass to set up sanchez's first goal probed and probed arsenal had an inconsistent first half before sanchez struck clinically after mesut ozil passed to him excellently  alexis sanchez 8  not his most influential afternoon but still popped up with two goals at wembley danny welbeck 6  well shackled by pearce and hector before being replaced in the second half subs  gabriel (on for mertesacker 63) 65  could easily have scored twice from headers olivier giroud (on for welbeck 72) 65  added physicality to the gunners' forward line theo walcott: (on for coquelin 101) 65  slotted in down the right for the final 20 minutes subs not used: wilshere, ospina, monreal, flamini  manager  arsene wenger 7  yet another nervy wembley outing for the frenchman it really shouldn't have been this tense 7  mom: michael hector  referee: martin atkinson: 7  att: 84,081 
michael hector alexis sanchez adam federici royals
reading keeper adam federici made a string of saves before that howler  man of the match michael hector (85) was superb in the royals defence  arsenal forward alexis sanchez (8) popped up with the two crucial goals 