West Bromwich Albion

0-1

Portsmouth

 

Kanu 54

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



Portsmouth's Croatian midfielder Niko Kranjcar says that Pompey's supporters at Wembley were the difference on the day between victory and defeat.

Having followed their win over West Brom at Wembley with a 1-0 triumph over West Ham, with Kranjcar scoring the winner, Portsmouth are clearly delighted at reaching their first FA Cup Final in 69 years.

And Kranjcar wants to thank the supporters who helped get them there.

"The fans were unbelievable. I must say, I didn't expect such a great atmosphere," the Croatian admitted.

"I think they won the game against West Bromwich as well, in the stands they were the far noisier crowd.

"We knew they were passionate but that was something else. All the tickertape, it was another great experience and I'm delighted for them as well.

"We really see what it means to them as well and hopefully we can go all the way and give them another reason to cheer.

"The atmosphere was great, the day was great and the result was great – you have to be happy with that."

Looking back on the game itself, Kranjcar believes that West Brom were a difficult team to beat and he is now anticipating a thrilling Final.

While he admits that the South coast side will never have a better chance at lifting The FA Cup, Kranjcar sounded a word of caution ahead of The Final.

"We will never have a better chance – we said that before the semi-final – but we know what can happen in The FA Cup," he said.

"We know what can happen in finals and not always the better team wins. But we're going to try.

"It was a tough game [against West Brom], we expected that. We were not happy with our performance and we didn't control the game.

"Then again, we didn't let them create chances and at the beginning and end of the second half I think we were the better team but didn't finish off the game.

"It was a great day for us so I'm looking forward to the final – I think we deserve to win it."

Teams

West Bromwich Albion: Dean Kiely, Carl Hoefkens, Paul Robinson, Neil Clement, Robert Koren, Jonathan Greening (c), Roman Bednar (Ishmael Miller 61), Zoltan Gera (Do-Heon Kim 75), Martin Albrechtsen, Kevin Phillips, James Morrison (Chris Brunt 61)

Substitutes: Michal Danek, Pedro Pele

Portsmouth: David James, Glen Johnson, Lassana Diarra, Hermann Hreidarsson, Papa Boupa Diop, Milan Baros (David Nugent 71), Sulley Muntari, Sylvain Distin, Niko Kranjcar, Sol Campbell (c), Nwankwo Kanu (Sean Davis 81)

Substitutes: Lauren, Jamie Ashdown, Pedro Mendes

Match Officials

Referee: H M Webb
Assistant Referees: D J Cann & M Mullarkey
Fourth Official: M Clattenburg

Attendance: 83,584