Stoke City's dream of a first FA Cup trophy were destroyed at Wembley when Yaya Toure blasted home the afternoon's only goal, handing Manchester City their first trophy in 35 years.
Stoke could find no reply in the closing minutes and it was the Blue half of the stadium that erupted into cheers at the final whistle.
Pulis' men had struggled for the majority of the game seemingly playing with 9 men at times due to Robert Huth and Matthew Etherington attempts to shrug off their respective injuries and play their part in the big day.
City's attack kept Sorensen busy straight from the word go, the Danish keeper getting a hand on first Tevez's deflected effort and then a finger to Balotelli's curling strike to deny the Blue side of Manchester a early lead.
"I've been looking forward to this game all my career," Sorensen said after the game. "I wanted to win it so desperately, but I don't think I could have done anything more on the day."
After David Silva's effort bounce into the ground and over Stoke could have felt that going into half-time all square they had survived the worst and that maybe today was their day. Indeed after the break Stoke had a spring in their step and began to try and take the game to City, their best (and only) shot on goal fallinf to Kenwyne Jones, the towering Trinidadian brushing away Lescott only to see his effort blocked by a sprinting Joe Hart.
15 minutes later it City finally broke the deadlock, Yaya Toure smashing the ball through the crowd from 10 yards out after Balotelli's strike had been blocked and bounced invitingly to the feet of the midfielder.
Stoke struggled to press City in the final minutes and Pulis' side looked tired and beaten as the final whistle rang out. But the Stoke boss was still proud of his players and the season they've had.
“I am very proud of what the players have done this season and they can hold their heads high, even though they are desperately disappointed today,” said Pulis after the game.
“ Unfortunately, we couldn't produce the level of performance that we have done in recent matches and if I knew the reason for that, then I'd be a genius.
“ If we look at the season overall, the players have been fantastic and we have achieved so much.
“We've secured a fourth season in the Premier League and have an excellent chance of finishing in the top half of the table, we've reached the FA Cup Final and we've qualified for Europe, so that isn't bad at all, is it.”
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