The Road To Wembley

Last updated : 15 May 2008 By Jim Bonner
Saturday the 5th of January seems a long time ago now but that's when the dream for both Pompey and Cardiff City began. Fratton Faithful takes a look at the topsy-turvy road to Wembley for both teams.

All Pompey fans will know who we beat to get to our biggest game since 1939 but there have been a fair few moments on the way to Wembley that may make you believe that Portsmouth's name is on the cup.

Ipswich Town had an extremely good home record at before we arrived at Portman Road and if it wasn't for the referee harshly sending off Liam Trotter for what looked like a simple foul then the outcome might have been different.

We shouldn't forget David Nugent's contribution after he came on at half time and then the fact we were absolutely bombarded in the last ten minutes of the match and have David James to thank for a couple of fantastic saves late on.

I remember getting back on the coach home and hearing that much fancied Everton, Blackburn and Villa had gone at the first hurdle so we'd done really well to get through a team who hadn't been beaten at home since March 2007.

The battle of the dockyards against Plymouth Argyle wasn't a classic and there were a fair few fans that were more interested in Havant & Waterlooville's exploits at Anfield after seeing the Pilgrims take an early lead.

After a deflected equaliser from Diarra and a scrappy second by Kranjcar right before half time we were forced to hold on and can consider ourselves fortunate not to have conceded a late penalty after Sylvain Distin got away with what looked like a clear handball in the box.

I will remember the game at Preston North End as the first time I thought "this may just be our year". After a tepid first half, the hosts were the much better team after the break but Jamo saved Simon Whaley's spot kick and I couldn't believe it when Darren Carter lashed a clearance into his own goal in the final minute of stoppage time!

Pompey fans were beginning to dream of Wembley, then we drew Manchester United away....

I'm still amazed at how everything went for us that game. How was Distin's barge on Ronaldo not a penalty? How did Glen Johnson and Distin clear what looked like certain goals off the line? How often do you get a penalty at Old Trafford and face a defender in goal?

Muntari's penalty that day will probably the most important he's ever scored, but it was our defensive heroics and a bit of luck that saw us through what looked like an impossible tie and took us to Wembley for the first time.

West Bromwich Albion were the opposition and despite being the better side for much of the game they were hit by the former player sucker punch as Kanu capitalised on Gera's mistake. Again, we had more than the odd moment of luck as Milan Baros looked to have handled the ball in build up to the goal and the Baggies had also hit the bar.

So after some excellent defending and some significant pieces of luck in each round we find ourselves one game away from lifting our fourth piece of major silverware.

Cardiff City began their route to the Final at The Scholars Ground; the home of non-league Chasetown and they suffered a shock when Kevin McNaughton's own goal gave the minnows the lead.

The shock lead couldn't be held until the break though as Peter Whittingham equalised right before half time. Aaron Ramsey gave Cardiff the lead on the hour and Paul Parry put the tie to the bed soon after.

Edgar Street was the venue for Cardiff's next tie as they took on Hereford United. McNaughton found himself on the scoresheet for the right team this time after scoring a volley right on half-time.

Steven Thompson then scored from the spot to double City's lead in the second half and despite Theo Robinson pulling a goal back for the home side it wasn't enough to stop them going out.

The fifth round was an all-championship affair at Ninian Park as Wolverhampton Wanderers made the trip to the Welsh Capital. The Bluebirds turned on the style against Mick McCarthy's lacklustre team as Whittingham scored after two minutes and then Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink curled in a beautiful second goal. Wolves had no reply and Dave Jones' men marched on.

Cardiff were drawn away to Middlesbrough in the quarter-finals and played them off the pitch. Whittingham scored a stunning goal after some quick feet bamboozled four defenders around him and he unleashed his shot into the net.

Roger Johnson headed in a second from a set-piece after some woeful Boro defending to seal victory after just 23 minutes. If Cardiff play like this against us and we're not at the top of our game then we could find ourselves on the losing side.

Cardiff played Barnsley at Wembley and won 1-0 courtesy of a pearler from Joe Ledley. Things could have been much different if Kayode Odejayi hadn't shot wide when one-on-one with the goalkeeper but it was the Welsh side that held on for the win to set up the most unlikely FA Cup Final.

Whilst there can be no argument that we have had the tougher run, Cardiff will claim that they have played better in their games and will feel confident of pulling off a big upset on Saturday.

Let's hope that all of Pompey's hard work getting this far wasn't for nothing.