Sure, it wasn't the best game but the occasion was something to savour and it's still hard to believe that Pompey are in the FA Cup Final for the first time in 69 years!
There's so much to talk about, so I'll divide my thoughts into two parts; the day and then the game itself.
The Day
Like many other Pompey fans, I arrived at Fratton Park earlier than 6am only to find out that coaches to Wembley were already being dispatched. After queuing in Rodney Road for a few minutes we were allocated coach 13, so not the greatest omen there!
We arrived at Wembley at 7:40 but strangely the police wouldn't let us leave the coach until we could be found a parking space at 9! Eventually we were allowed to get off but then we would have ran the risk of not knowing where the coach was parked.
We had a time limit of 40 minutes to get back to the coach after the game so I thought it would be smarter to stay on the coach and wait until about 8:30am to go on a detour around Wembley to eventually arrive at the car park we were originally at anyway! Someone joked "I bet Ticketmaster arranged the parking too!"
I had a look around Wembley and walked up and down Wembley walk to soak up an excellent pre-match atmosphere. There were Pompey fans singing when coming out of Wembley Park station, having group photos taken, sounding off air horns and waving flags like lunatics.
The Baggies definitely played their part too. As I was waiting to pay £5.50 for my burger on Wembley Walk (Where was Mick when you needed him) there was a West Brom fan conducting his own ceremonies with his stereo blurting out the Liquidator, with fans dressed in Navy and White stripes adding their own "colourful" lyrics to that tune.
I thought it was great to see that both sets of fans could mix and have banter with each other without any trouble at all. There was supposedly some trouble after the game, but the general spirit of the occasion was outstanding.
The turnstiles opened at 10:15 and so after purchasing a £5 matchday programme/magazine/memento I went and queued up for about half an hour to get into the stadium. What amused me was the sign next to the turnstile that listed items that were not permitted into the ground. You had the blatantly obvious (No Weapons, No Illegal Substances) to the blatantly ignored (No Cameras, No Flags or Flag Poles) to the blatantly stupid (No Tools, No "Things That Make Noise").
After climbing about ten flights of stairs I finally reached the Wembley concourse. I refused to pay £6.40 for a hotdog and a medium drink and instead paid £3.40 for a watered down pint. The prices in Wembley may have been extortionate but the moments that followed would be priceless.
I stepped out onto the gantry, took my seat and took in the breathtaking view that I had of what is a magnificent stadium. Anyone who complained about having to buy the cheapest tickets must have been eating their words as you could see everything.
The Pompey end of the stadium was filling faster than the Albion section as the big screens at Wembley showed both teams' route to Wembley, with Alex Ferguson throwing his gum on the floor in frustration getting the biggest cheer. The United boss and his assistant have finally been charged for their bitter outburst and it's about time too!
Then the announcers from both clubs, Russ of West Brom and Steve of Pompey both introduced the Liquidator and a jazzed up version of the famous sailor tune of Pompey respectively.
Then they orchestrated the fans to chant their most famous songs and after what seemed like a subdued "Boing Boing" from the Baggies, Pompey fans belted out a chorus of "Play Up Pompey" that was probably the loudest I have ever heard and something we could all be proud of.
What followed was a flawless run through of the West Brom team by the announcer, but then a rather funny balls up of ours as the announcer rattled off our players in positional order but the screen displayed the team in squad number order, so Lassana Diarra had become Sol Campbell who was also Milan Baros according to the display!
The stadium continued to fill to full capacity as the players did their warm-up routine before 12:10 finally arrived and the teams walked out to a tickertape reception that produced an emotional lump in my throat as I was just moments away from watching my team play at Wembley with 33,000 other Pompey fans.
The Game
To say we didn't play well in the first half is an understatement. Albion were passing us off the pitch, we couldn't keep the ball and barely looked threatening. Sulley Muntari's long range free kick and Milan Baros' failure to get any real contact on Kanu's flick on header was as good as it got for us.
West Brom's best chances in the first 45 minutes actually came from a couple of spills by David James. The first was quickly cleared by Sol Campbell whilst Jamo himself pounced on the second with Kevin Phillips lurking.
For all of their possession, Tony Mowbray's side didn't create much through their own play and we had defended well when we needed to. Howard Webb seemed to give our opponents every little decision to hinder us even further but the half-time whistle blew and I could hear a few nearby boos from Pompey fans after a dismal first half display.
We started in the same way in the second half as the Baggies looked the better side but then how many times this season, especially in the FA Cup, when we have been on the backfoot but have hit teams with a suckerpunch?
Glen Johnson's ball into the box was taken down by Baros as he turned and hit a shot that Kiely saved but Gera couldn't clear the ball properly and it fell to Kanu who netted probably the sweetest tap in he'll ever score as the loudest cheer I have ever heard erupted around Wembley!
There was a handball from Baros before he turned but the referee would have had to have been eagle eyed to spot it. It was funny to see Scummer Phillips squinnying about it after the game, saying "the ref bottled it, Portsmouth were lucky blah blah blah...."
We started to play better after the goal, picking holes in the West Brom defence and using the space of Wembley's pitch to much better effect. I'm sure all Pompey fans are still asking how Milan Baros didn't secure the win after he was played through by Kranjcar yet couldn't beat Kiely from close range.
We might have been made to pay for that had Robert Koren's shot been inches lower and not hit the crossbar. But then we had other opportunities to finish off the Baggies as Sulley Muntari fired just wide and David Nugent had a couple of efforts on target that he might have done better with, including one he should have scored in stoppage time.
West Brom had a corner in the final seconds of stoppage time and I was thinking "God no, please God no..." but Sean Davis cleared at the near post and Howard Webb blew the whistle to start wild celebrations at Wembley for all Pompey fans. Our place in our first FA Cup Final since World War II had been confirmed!
Commiserations to West Brom who really did play well and on the balance of play can consider themselves unlucky not to win. I wish them all the best in their hunt for promotion this season and hope we can play them again next year.
As for us, it's still not sunk in that we'll be playing the biggest game that any of us will have seen as a Pompey fan. Our moment in FA Cup history will always be remembered by everyone associated by PFC but come Saturday the 17th of May we will be hoping to go one better.
Pompey Player Ratings
David James: 6 - A couple of bad spills but one great take from a cross that Phillips would have scored otherwise.
Glen Johnson: 7 - Good all round display.
Sol Campbell: 7 - Strong in the centre.
Sylvain Distin: 7 - Dealt with the Baggies attack well.
Hermann Hreidarsson: 7 - Stood firm when we were on the back foot.
Papa Bouba Diop: 6 - Did well in his limited role.
Sulley Muntari: 6 - Passing should have been better.
Lassana Diarra: 7 - Gave the midfield an added bite.
Niko Kranjcar: 6 - Wasn't given much to influence the game with.
Milan Baros: 6 - Did all the running but was guilty of missing a great chance.
Kanu: 7 - Gone down in folklore after scoring the winner. More infuential when we scored.
Substitutes
Jamie Ashdown
Lauren
Pedro Mendes
Sean Davis: N/A - Late change for Kanu.
David Nugent: 6 - Worked hard but should have made more of his chances.