With the 2013/2014 season coming to an end May has seen me covering a number of finals in cup competitions. First up was the UEFA Europa League final at the impressive Juventus Stadium in Turin where Sevilla and Benfica played out a rather boring 0-0 draw before Sevilla won an entertaining penalty shootout 4-2. Great action pictures were hard to come by but the fans were great value for money and the celebrations after the shootout were good.

Next up was the FA Cup Final at Wembley, where despite Hull City racing into an early 2-0 lead, Arsenal fought back and thanks to an injury time goal from Aaron Ramsey, they won 3-2 to seal their first silverware in 9 years. My highlight was probably seeing manager Arsene Wenger struggle to take off his wet shirt after being soaked with champagne by Lukas Podolski. Another nice surprise was looking back at my remote camera behind the goal to find Arsenal midfielder Santi Cazorla had borrowed it to photograph his team mates celebrating their success…which led to fame on the Mail Online for yours truly!

Then it was off to Cardiff for a spot of egg chasing and the Amlin Cup where Bath and Northampton were fighting it out. Having only covered one rugby match this season I was a bit rusty and unfortunately the majority of photographers weren’t allowed to shoot the trophy lift but thankfully managed to get a few frames of the Northampton players celebrating their 30-16 victory.

Last but not least was the Championship play-off final, in which Queens Park Rangers were taking on Derby County for a place in the Premier League. Arriving later than scheduled around 1.30pm due to major traffic before heavy rain right on kick off was not the greatest start but thankfully the sun came out in the second half and despite going down to ten men and having only one shot on target for the whole match, QPR sealed victory with a last minute winner from Bobby Zamora. Queue massive celebrations and yet more champagne popping.

All work as always for the great www.backpageimages.com

May has been a good end to a good 2013/2014 season…next up is the small matter of a trip to Brazil and the 2014 World Cup!