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



Cardiff City manager Dave Jones is looking forward to enjoying the Wembley experience again on Saturday, when he leads his team into FA Cup action against Portsmouth.

The Championship side have upset all of the odds by reaching The Final and now Jones is hoping that his team can go one further and actually lift The Cup for the first time since Cardiff last won it in 1927.

They face opposition from Harry Redknapp’s Pompey team, who have already picked up plenty of experience in facing sides from the Championship in four of their five FA Cup ties in the competition.

As a Premiership team too, Jones knows that the Bluebirds will need to be on song if they are to have any joy against the Premiership outfit.

“All the players are going to get some nerves before kick-off simply because it’s a Final, but I’m hoping everybody will embrace the occasion,” admitted Jones.

“It’s been a great achievement for the club to get here – and for Portsmouth too, of course. We’ve had a taste of Wembley (in The Semi-Final) so we know what to expect of the occasion and the pitch.

“I was very relieved to hear the final whistle against Barnsley in The Semi-Final, but I also felt a sense of satisfaction because I knew that we deserved to be here.

“We’ve got to this stage by playing some very good football.”

The Welshmen finished in 12th spot in the Championship this season, but given the club’s form in The FA Cup there has only been one competition on people’s minds.

“It’s really gone mad in the city over the last few weeks and all kinds of people have been asking me for tickets,” revealed Jones.

“The players of today are well used to all of the razzmatazz that goes on in the build up to big games.

“Our experienced players have seen this kind of thing before so they know what it’s going to take to get a result in a tight game like this and they’ll pass on that experience to the others.”

Form-wise, Cardiff ended their season with a mixed bag of results but Jones knows not to read too much into that, given the thought of The Final was always going to be in the back of everyone’s minds.

“Towards the end of the season our FA Cup campaign was probably a distraction for the players,” he admitted.

“We were always playing catch-up in the League and it was difficult to stay focused on our position in the division.

“We’ve got the chance to achieve something that’s very rare, so it’s only normal that the lads lose a bit of focus. This is the biggest day of my players’ lives.”

You can read more from Dave Jones in the official FA Cup Final matchday programme, which is available to pre-order online now at www.thefa.com/FACupProgrammes