Proud Pompey Fall At Final Hurdle

Last updated : 16 May 2010 By Jim Bonner
"What if?" is one of the biggest phrases in football and yesterday, every Pompey fan left Wembley with their heads held high but also pondering what could have been.

Kevin-Prince Boateng will have to live with his spot kick woe for the rest of his career, and it will be talked about by generations of Pompey fans as the turning point of the FA Cup Final.

Of course, it might have been the thrashing that many predicted before the game began. The woodwork came to Pompey's rescue on five seperate occasions, including once where Kalou somehow failed to score from two yards in what has to be one of the worst misses in FA Cup Final history.

Lampard's swerving 20-yarder, John Terry's looping header and a close range effort from Didier Drogba all had hit the frame of the goal whilst David James did brilliantly to tip the Ivorian's powerful free kick onto the crossbar before gathering after the ball hadn't crossed the line.

Chelsea didn't have it all their own way though, as Petr Cech had to claw away Frederic Piquionne's effort after Boateng and Dindane had instigated a rare Pompey counter-attack.

It remained goalless at half-time and Pompey fans began to believe that this could really be our day, and when Belletti brought down Dindane in the box that hope escalated as Kevin-Prince Boateng stepped up to take the spot kick.

What happened after that will forever stick in the minds of everyone associated with Portsmouth Football Club as Boateng's poor penalty was easily saved by the legs of Petr Cech. Having wasted our best chance to score, the outcome of the match seemed inevitable.

Three minutes later, as Didier Drogba stepped up to take the free kick, I said to the fan on my left; "You watch this fly in now." And fly in it did, bouncing off the post on the way.

There was some trouble in block 522 after that goal was scored as a couple of Chelsea fans were celebrating in the Pompey end. Chaos broke out and the stewards had a job to eject the offenders as emotions ran high.

That goal killed any hopes of Pompey winning the game. We huffed and puffed as Avram introduced John Utaka, Nadir Belhadj and Kanu to try and push forward. Belhadj's dangerous cross into the box had to be turned away by Terry with Dindane ready to pounce.

Chelsea could have sealed it a minute from time when Michael Brown brought down Lampard in the box but he sympathetically put his 12-yard effort wide as the fires of Pompey hope still burned going into stoppage time.

But the goal never came and Chelsea ran out deserved winners in the end as there was to be no happy ending for Pompey's fairytale. Our fans were magnificent and stayed behind right until the end, singing proudly through the trophy presentation as if the cup had been won.

The players deserve a lot of credit for making it this far to begin with, and refusing to roll over for Chelsea who never thrashed us on the day as everyone expected.

Of course, we'll always wonder what might have been if Boateng had scored that penalty but we shouldn't dwell on it too much. We had had a great day and can be happy with the performance. There are far more important things to be thinking about now in terms of our future.

The final whistle at Wembley has marked the end of an era for us. The dream is over and Pompey are soon going to crash land into the harsh realms of reality. We have a long and bumpy road ahead of us, but hopefully there will be a light at the end of the tunnel.

Finally, I'd like to take the opportunity to thank every Pompey player that has taken part in this magnificent, unforgettable cup journey and wish them well in the future, if they're not staying at Fratton Park.

Pompey Player Ratings

David James: 8 - One incredible acrobatic save and claimed every loose ball.

Steve Finnan: 7 - One of his best performances for the club.

Aaron Mokoena: 8 - Showed so much heart by throwing himself in the way of everything, has turned his Pompey career around but will he stay?

Ricardo Rocha: 7 - Won most things in the air.

Hayden Mullins: 7 - Should consider a permanent switch to left back!

Michael Brown: 7 - An annoyance to Chelsea all game.

Jamie O'Hara: 5 - Back injury must really have affected him.

Papa Bouba Diop: 7 - Hardly anything got past him.

Kevin-Prince Boateng: 4 - Poor first touch and will always be haunted by his penalty.

Frederic Piquionne: 5 - Well marshalled by the Chelsea defence.

Aruna Dindane: 7 - Managed to get the better of the Chelsea back four on more than one occassion.

Substitutes

Jamie Ashdown

Tal Ben-Haim

Anthony Vanden Borre

Nadir Belhadj (Mullins 82): N/A - Whipped in a couple of dangerous crosses.

Richard Hughes

John Utaka (Boateng 74): N/A - No impact.

Kanu (Diop 81): N/A - Couldn't end his Pompey career with a goal.