The moment we have been waiting for finally arrived today, Pompey were off to Wembley for the FA cup semi final. Could we go that one step further than 92? The answer was?yes!
Richard Hughes was the unlucky man to miss out on the squad, while injury ruled out John Utaka. Sean Davis and Pedro Mendes dropped to the bench, the players that came in were Lassana Diarra, Papa Bouba Diop and Sulley Muntari the latter from suspended the former from injury. With Jermain Defoe being cup tied Kanu returned.
Thanks to a goal early in the 2nd half from Kanu we marched onto the cup final.
The Match
What can I say, the game is mostly a blur to me to be honest, maybe it was the fact that it was Pompey in the FA cup semi final, maybe it was the fact that it was at Wembley, or maybe it was the fact that I did not sleep much last night and we set off so early? I do recall quite early on David James was forced into a save, I think from Kevin Phillips.
There were some very strange refereeing and assistant decisions, with most of them against us, that was another thing I do remember, and clearly! Our one and only real chance of the half was from a Sulley Muntari free kick from an outrageous distance, maybe to either side of Dean Kiely it might have gone in as it seemed well enough struck.
The best chance of the half for anyone fell to Milan Baros, or at least almost did, as a ball played through to him almost saw him in, but he could not quite stretch to make a connection.
We came out with much more conviction and looked more of a threat in the 2nd half and took the lead a few minutes before the hour mark when Baros broke into the box, only to see his shot half saved by Kiely, who then scrambled back to try and clear as Hermann Hreidarsson came charging in, with a West Brom defender also trying to clear Kiely only succeeded in pushing the ball into the path of Kanu who tucked home.
The game should have been wrapped up when Baros was played through but with not one, not two, maybe three or even four chances to get a shot away he blew it?
West Brom pushed on to get an equaliser, and in doing so this enabled us to mount some counter attacks but we failed to make the most of these in most instances, with Dave Nugent – having come on for Baros – missing a chance, which in fairness to him was difficult.
As they pushed on in search of that equaliser James had to be alert to cut out a dangerous ball across the box, but only the woodwork denied them getting on level terms but we managed to do enough and could afford another missed Nugent chance, as he blazed over, or at least appeared to, although I am told that it looked like he was fouled. To sure things up Sean Davis got on late on, replacing Kanu.
Match Summary
It was not a great game, for the 1st half West Brom were easily the better side, for periods of the 2nd it was the other way – but the main thing is we won and we are now in the FA cup final, yep the FA cup final!
On a personal note I would like to give a big thank you to pompey4me and his family who allowed me to travel with him and his family, which was a real pleasure! It was also fantastic to meet up with a few of you from this site around Wembley, it is a shame that not all could make it, we will save that for May hopefully eh!
PLAY UP POMPEY!
Goals
West Brom 0
Pompey 1 – Kanu 54
David James
Glen Johnson
Sol Campbell
Sylvain Distin
Hermann Hreidarsson
Papa Bouba Diop
Lassana Diarra
Sulley Muntari
Niko Kranjcar
Kanu (Sean Davis)
Milan Baros (Dave Nugent)
Substitutes Not Used
Jamie Ashdown
Lauren
Pedro Mendes
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