West Bromwich Albion v Portsmouth
The FA Cup sponsored by E.ON
Semi-Finals
12.15pm, Saturday 5 April 2008
Wembley Stadium
Winning clubs will receive £900,000 from The FA
Recent FA Cup Results - Results
Ticket information - click here
Seating plan - click here



Tony Adams is hoping that his FA Cup luck rubs off on Portsmouth on Saturday when they face West Bromwich Albion in the Semi-Final.

The Portsmouth coach won the trophy three times as and Arsenal player in 1993, 1998 and 2002 and has a good record in Semi-Finals as well.

The Fratton Park coach is amazed at the turnaround he has experienced at the club in his two years; Portsmouth have gone from fighting relegation to the brink of an FA Cup Final.

Pompey won The Cup in 1939 and have reached the Semi-Final five times before - the last time being 16 years ago.

This time, Adams believes they have the set-up to go all the way

"It's been fantastic since I've been at the club," he said. 

"I've had two great years here and the club has not seen this level of success in recent years.

"When I came we had just scraped our way to avoid relegation.  We've gone on from there and pushed up the League and brought in some great players.

"It looks like we are going to have two top-ten finishes and we're in The FA Cup Semi-Final.

"It's been a remarkable season. That's credit to the players. They've been exceptional and who knows where it is going to take us.

"I've said all the way along, in cup competitions you have to ride your luck and I've played in four finals, lost one, won three and eleven semis and been lucky to only lose two.

"You have to, as a team, ride your luck but you won't win anything if you don't have that extra bit of quality in your team."

Adams says Portsmouth have good enough players to make it to the Final and believes they profited from Chelsea's decision to let them sign Lassana Diarra in the January transfer window.

"I've said we've got one or two footballers at Portsmouth who can win football matches for us," he added.

"I think they made a mistake with Lassana Diarra. But the lad wanted to play first-team football and we've profited from that.

"He's too good be on the bench at a big club. He's a good kid. He's first class and everything I've asked him to do he's done and his attitude has been spot on.

"He's only a baby in his position at 22 and he's only going to get better. He just needed a platform and we are providing it for him."