Portsmouth 2, Birmingham City 0: Colin Tattum's big match verdict
Mar 8 2010 by Colin Tattum, Birmingham Mail
THE pain may subside, but such hurt never really goes away.
Blues and the FA Cup. What is it with the world’s most famous knock-out competition?
Just when you hope, if not quite dare believe, that the diet of countless letdowns and misery over the years might change, you find that unpalatable taste still lingering there in the mouth.
Click here to read Colin Tattum's match stats and player ratings
Being a Blues follower – the last of only two FA Cup final appearances in 1956, a semi-final previously in 1975 – you have to develop a fatalistic outlook.
Yet this year it was reasonable to assume that Blues’ chances of going all the way were better than usual.
The evidence of the Premier League exploits, the run so far – all away ties – and Portsmouth’s dire predicament.
Saturday was an opportunity not to be concerned about, but it ended as another of those passed up.
All the more frustrating was that Blues had the measure of Portsmouth and controlled the first half, only without ever delivering a decisive blow.
Not to worry, you felt, as Blues have shown this season on many occasions that they don’t shred the opposition anyway, there’s fibre and guile as well that often proves to be telling.
But not so at Fratton Park. Blues malfunctioned in the second half, they allowed themselves to become unusually slipshod, less compact than normal, and Portsmouth gratefully accepted a foothold.
Frederic Piquionne stung Blues with two goals three minutes apart, the first a scruffy, scrambled affair, and the Wembley dream turned into a nightmare.
With nine minutes left, Liam Ridgewell headed a ‘goal’ from a corner. David James tried to bat the ball away but it was already over the line as he fell back.
Linesman Adam Watts, despite being perfectly positioned with a clear view, had a brain freeze and allowed Steve Bennett – should he have seen it anyway? – to let play continue.
