Nigerian striker John Utaka on Sunday featured for Portsmouth in their shock FA Cup defeat of Tottenham after coming in as a late second half substitute. It was the 21st appearance of the season in all competitions for the former France based player who can now look forward to another FA Cup final appearance for the south coast club two years after featuring in the side that lifted the trophy at the expense of Cardiff City.
This year's final will however be against a Chelsea side, complete with another Nigerian international John Obi Mikel, on May 15.
Sunday's encounter ended in a 2-0 win for Portsmouth, who now have a chance of ending what has been a horrific season for them with a piece of silverware.
Both goals arrived in extra time but the cash-strapped Portsmouth needed every bit of help they could to overcome Tottenham in the semi-final match decided at Wembley and the notorious Wembley pitch did give a helping hand for the first goal. The pitch has been laid and relaid over six times.
Portsmouth rode one hell of a second-half storm with former player Peter Crouch the most culpable for a succession of missed chances. And Crouch was made to pay for his profligacy midway through the first half of extra time when Frederic Piquionne, on loan from French side Lyon, pounced on a loose ball after Michael Dawson had lost his footing at the crucial time inside the area.
Former Spurs midfielder Kevin Prince-Boateng then rattled home a 117th-minute penalty after Aruna Dindane had been felled by Wilson Palacios.
And it could have been worse for Tottenham had their Brazilian goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes not being well placed to prevent a curling shot from Portsmouth's second half substitute, Nigerian international John Utaka, from sailing into the net.
Yet Tottenham had dominated all of the second half of normal time in pursuit of the right to face holders Chelsea in the final and they only have themselves to blame for not making the best of the numerous opportunities that came their way against a Portsmouth side now relegated to the Coca-Cola Championship.
The fact that only goalkeeper and captain David James survived in Portsmouth's starting line-up from the memorable day in 2008 when they won the cup - Utaka and his Nigerian compatriot Nwankwo Kanu were on the substitute bench - underlined how times have changed for the Blues since then.
Their financial collapse in less than two years of that memorable encounter had prompted the wholesale departure of not only players but also manager Harry Redknapp who was on the Tottenham bench after having spent much of his week playing down assessments that Spurs were runaway favourites against a Portsmouth side already condemned to relegation after a disastrous campaign.
Redknapp's caution appeared justified in the first half when Pompey went about their work with plenty of spirit with Piquionne seeing his shot half-blocked before being foiled by Gomes when clean through while Boateng was narrowly wide with a free kick.
At the other end James leaped acrobatically both to his right - to claw a goal-bound header from former teammate Crouch out of the air - and then to his left to tip away a drive from Tom Huddlestone.
In the second half, Portsmouth also had the better of the opening exchanges but Piquionne was guilty of an awful miss when he popped a close-range, 'free' header into the hands of Gomes at point-blank range.
James then completely missed a left-wing corner from David Bentley only for newly-arrived substitute Roman Pavlyuchenko to head wide with a yawning net at his mercy. Crouch then went the closest to a goal when he placed an acute-angle header against the outside of a post.
Somehow, against all the odds and the all the run of second-half play, Portsmouth survived to earn extra-time and victory to console them amid financial turmoil and relegation.
At the end of the game chants of “Harry, Harry, what's the score?” resonated through the stadium from cheery Portsmouth fans while Redknapp generously embraced opposite number Avram Grant, who will now lead out Portsmouth against Chelsea, the club he guided to the Champions League Final just two years ago.
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