Portsmouth Win FA Cup

Portsmouth ended a 69 year drought at Wembley yesterday when they beat Cardiff City 1 - 0 in the 2008 FA Cup Final.  The winner came courtesy of ex Arsenal striker Kanu in the first half.  It was not all one way traffic for the Premiership side though as Cardiff City of the Championship did themselves proud with a very spirited display.

Kanu and Utaka perform their clebratory dance at the feet of Cardiff's goalkeeper Peter Enckelman whose fumble cost Cardiff the Cup.  Whoops!

What a difference to last year's Cup Final. OK, this won't go down as a classic but compared to the mind numbingly boring 120 minutes Chelsea and Man Utd served up I'd be more than happy for apparently "lesser" teams to get to the Final every year.  Let's hope they do better on Wednesday in Moscow.

This was the first Final not to feature one of the "big four" since 1991 when Spurs played Notts Forest and that Gaza tackle!  Remember that?  Anyway, initially this game was an open and adventurous affair with Cardiff, in particular, not being overawed by their big day out.  The game was of course played against the magnificant backdrop of the new Wembley on an overcast day, but this didn't seem to dampen the spirits of the noisy fans from both teams.  They were going to enjoy their day whatever the weather.

The fans had to wait for 37 minutes for the opening and only goal of the game when Pompey midfielder John Utaka whipped a low cross in from the right bye-line only for Cardiff's on loan goalie Peter Enckelman to push the ball in to the path of Kanu who had the simple task of knocking the ball into the net with a combination of both shin and foot.

In truth it should have been Kanu's second goal of the Final.  Minutes earlier he produced some fabulous footwork in the penalty box to skip first around a defender then the goalie and with the open goal at his mercy he could only hit the post.  In fact was was harder to hit the post than score.

Kanu dances around Peter Enckelman only to then do the hard thing and hit the post.

Cardiff who were attempting to become the lowest ranking team to win the FA Cup since 1901 looked dangerous on the break with Paul Parry having an attempt saved by Portsmouth goalie David James after 13 minutes and creating an opening for McNaughton 5 minutes before the break when he should have had a shot of his own.

Cardiff's Johnson also went close with a header from Whittingham's freekick, but despite taken the game to Portsmouth in the 1st half they failed to score.

They did however have the ball in the net on the stroke of halftime when Loovens lobbed the ball over James and under the crossbar, but the referee had already blown for a handball by the defender.  The replays showed that it did strike his elbow but perhaps the decision was a little harsh.

Portsmouth did improve in the second half with the dominating in midfield and taking the game to Cardiff with some excellent passing and well timed runs.

Cardiff, replaced verteran striker Hasselbaink for the last 20 minutes and rallied as time began to run out.  I've never been a great fan of Hasselbaink as he has always seemed more interested in moaning and thinking the whole world is against him and his performance yesterday proved, for me at least, that it's time he retired.  The change helped Cardiff and it was only some frantic defending by the Portsmouth defence in the final minutes that prevented Cardiff equalising.

This was Portsmouth's 5th 1 - 0 win from the six matches in the competition clinched a place in the UEFA Cup next season and meant that Harry Redknapp became the first English manager to guide a team to success in the Final since Joe Royle of Everton in 1995 when they beat Man Utd 1 - 0.

Like a said, not a classic Cup Final but it was an entertaining game.  As a neutral I would have looked to have seen Cardiff's disallowed goal right at the end of the first half stand, it would have set up a great second half.

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 FA Cup 2008 - Cardiff City Vs Portsmouth FC