Cardiff City v Portsmouth
The FA Cup sponsored by E.ON
The Final
3pm, Saturday 17 May 2008
Wembley Stadium
Winning clubs will receive £1,000,000 from The FA
Seating plan - click here
Ticketing information - click here



Dave Jones' Cardiff City have made it through to The FA Cup Final at Wembley next month, the Welsh club's first Final appearance since Fred Keenor captained the side that took The Cup out of England for the first and only time in 1927.

What has perhaps been overlooked in the euphoria is that Cardiff were actually losing to a non-League team in their Third Round match in January. It proves how a team's fortunes can change dramatically during the course of a competition.

As a Championship club, Cardiff entered The FA Cup at the Third Round stage and were drawn away to Chasetown.

The Southern League Midland Division giantkillers had knocked out Port Vale from League One to become the lowest ranked club ever to line up in the Third Round of the world-famous competition.

A crowd of 2,420 packed into Chasetown's tiny Scholars Ground and saw the non-Leaguers take a shock lead after 17 minutes, Bluebirds' Kevin McNaughton scoring an unfortunate own goal as he tried to deal with a cross. A Wembley Final must have seemed a million miles away for Cardiff's players and fans at that moment.

But they battled back to equalise in first-half stoppage time and ran out 3-1 winners at the end of a difficult match.

Perhaps some memories are revived amongst older Cup aficionados of a similar predicament experienced by FA Cup winners Nottingham Forest in 1959. They beat Luton Town 2-1 at Wembley, but had the scare of their lives at Tooting & Mitcham United in the Third Round.

The Isthmian League side were 2-0 up at half-time on a frozen and rutted pitch at their Sandy Lane ground. Forest only brought the score back to 2-2 after an own goal and a controversial penalty. Then they won their home replay 3-0 two weeks later.

A couple of great Cup comebacks.