Albion 0 Portsmouth 1 - full report

For the second year running, Albion found only heartache at Wembley stadium, writes Martin Swain.

Their FA Cup final hopes were crushed by a solitary and fortune-tinged goal from former Baggie Nwankwo Kanu in the 54th minute of their semi-final clash against Premiership Portsmouth.

It was a tough result for Albion to take nine months after suffering the same scoreline in their play-off final against Derby.

Even tougher because Albion proved today that they are inching ever closer to Premiership levels as they gave Portsmouth a real run for their money in a match which made for compelling viewing for the committed.

Tony Mowbray’s side will question whether Portsmouth truly deserved their victory but in cup football that is all that counts and Harry Redknapp, the country’s outstanding English manager, moved within touching distance of his first major trophy in the game as Portsmouth now await the winners of tomorrow’s second semi-final between Cardiff and Barnsley.

It is difficult to imagine that either of those two Championship teams will test Pompey as much as Albion, who had their top-flight opponents mounting a rear-guard action for long periods.

The problem for Albion was finding a way through the powerful resistance which denied Manchester United in the quarter-finals and is the real lesson for their future ambitions from this game.

The closest they came in a moment which compounded the disappointment was with a Robert Koren shot 19 minutes from the end which thundered off the bar and away.

Otherwise, prising chances out of the defence in front of England goalkeeper David James proved a tough assignment, despite banks of possession, inventive movement and precision passing which Albion produced.

They will be eager, too, to see the replays of the decisive goal, with claims that Milan Baros handled the ball in the build up to the fatal moment.

But the club’s dream of marking a 40th anniversary of their last FA Cup win with another place in the final of the world’s greatest club competition is over and all that matters now is how Albion respond.

There was plenty of evidence today to confirm the view that Mowbray is developing a team which will relish the Premiership stage in the way that it treasures possession and concentrates on the technical arts of attacking football.

But they have to get there first and it will be a test of the manager’s powers of motivation as much as the players to pick themselves up from this despairing moment and resume the battle for points to move them from fourth in the Championship.

There can’t be a fixture more guaranteed to bring feet down to earth than Tuesday night’s visit to Blackpool, but if the supporters could grasp at any compensation on their journey home it is that performance levels of this quality will surely see Albion over the finishing line.

The Baggies came to Wembley determined to show their merits and from the moment this semi-final began they proved they would not be daunted by the stage.

From the first seconds, which saw Carl Hoefkens gather an over-hit Portsmouth cross and feed Zoltan Gera tight in the corner, we saw evidence of Albion’s intentions.

Gera ignored the easy option of a clearance up field and showed the confidence Mowbray wanted from his side by carrying the ball through Portsmouth’s chasing midfield and launching Albion into their first attack.

The approach, then, was good but had Mowbray selected the right team?

The Albion boss opted for a front partnership of Kevin Phillips and Roman Bednar and gave James Morrison the wide left berth at the expense of Chris Brunt.

Morrison had a fine hour before handing over to Brunt but Bednar struggled to get any change out of Sol Campbell and Sylvain Distin, defenders of a quality the man from the Czech Republic is unlikely to have faced before.

When he made way for Ishmael Miller on the hour, Albion at last had a striker with the power and the pace to trouble Portsmouth’s rear guard and as vital a contribution as Bednar has made this season, Mowbray may well consider that to be one of the lessons of the game.

There was no doubt, however, that the decision to stick with Neil Clement was spot on despite his late arrival on the scene after a season of injury trouble and loan appearances.

Albion’s longest-serving player produced an outstanding performance in a generally secure defensive display, something which bodes well for the crunch challenges that now lie ahead in the League campaign.

With Clement snuffing out Portsmouth’s efforts to release Kanu and Baros, a first half hour unfolded which could have been bettered only by a goal the Baggies deserved for their general play. But their final ball could not carve out.

Indeed, the closest they would come in the first half was as early as the sixth minute when Hoefkens made a break down the right which eventually saw Jonathan Greening recycle possession from a half clearance by Distin.

Albion then showed what they are about with a dizzy execution of passes involving Paul Robinson, Morrison and Phillips which ended with Gera thundering a shot James could only parry in front of him.

Such was the confidence and authority displayed by the Championship side as they snaffled possession and pushed the ball about Wembley’s lush green acres, Redknapp was off his seat and into the technical area by the 15th minute demanding greater urgency from his side.

It was the 24th minute before Dean Kiely was asked to do anything other than collect back passes – and then he had all the time in the world to gather a soft header from Papa Bouba Diop from under his bar.

He had to pay a little more attention to the 30th minute free-kick from Sulley Muntari which flew into his arms, but Portsmouth’s anxiety at playing the game on the back foot was reflected in the anguished appeals from their noisy half of the stadium and the 35th minute booking of Baros.

Frustrated by his lack of progress, Baros twice used his hands to take control of the ball and that was enough for referee Howard Webb to show him the yellow card.

But equally, the pattern of Albion’s attacks crashing on the rocks of Portsmouth’s back four was beginning to emerge, no matter how much the impressive quartet of Phillips, Greening, Gera and Koren moved their opponents around.

Indeed, the Albion fans were beginning to hope for the kind of howler which has interrupted James’ career down the years to show itself – and they nearly got it in the 37th minute when he spilled a routine back header from Glen Johnson.

Phillips got there as fast as his 34-year-old legs could carry him but James retrieved his error in the nick of time.

The moment was, however, indicative of the complacency which Portsmouth appeared to be showing as they continued to suffer a secondary role in the opening half before giving Albion a glimpse of the qualities which had taken them sixth in the Premiership in the 41st minute.

A delicate chip by Kanu followed Bouba Diop’s header towards goal and Baros was only fractions away from making a decisive connection.

By the time the first half closed, Albion had established in their control of the ball enough evidence to suggest they could win if they could find that priceless moment.

Instead, nine minutes into the second half, it was Portsmouth who made the breakthrough.

Baros, moving onto Johnson’s service into the area, held off Martin Albrechtsen enough to flick a right-foot shot across Kiely’s line of cover.

There was no time for Albion to question whether Baros had handled but misfortune was compounded as Kiely made the save with an outstretched right hand and began scrambling to his feet to gather the rebound.

But by then, Gera was running back to tidy up himself and the pair succeeded only in a misunderstanding of calamitous proportions – the ball bobbled free from the goal line and straight into the path of Kanu, who had the simplest of tasks to score.

Mowbray made his substitutions and then had to watch anxiously as Albion began to stretch themselves in pursuit of an equaliser only to sacrifice some of their solidity which in the 66th minute helped Johnson play in Niko Kranjcar, who sent Baros into a goal scoring position on the left side of the area.

If Kiely felt any remorse about the goal, his subsequent save at Baros’ feet surely atoned.

And then came the moment which probably confirmed to Albion fans it was not to be their day.

Hoefkens thundered through the left side of Portsmouth’s defence before pulling back a pass to Koren as he arrived on the edge of the area.

At last James was beaten by a rising shot which even the England keeper’s enormous reach could not touch, but to Albion’s dismay the ball smashed onto the top side of the bar and away to safety.

Six minutes later Miller showed the power that Albion had been lacking when he built up enough steam to send Campbell bouncing off him out on the left touchline before turning towards goal.

Phillips was waiting at the far post, Koren and Greening were arriving from behind but Miller opted for the more difficult pass to try to find his striker partner and with every Albion supporter on their feet in anticipation, James cut out the pass.

There was a remarkable show of devotion – and appreciation perhaps for the performance their side had given – when the Albion contingent launched into a stirring rendition of the anthemic “The Lord’s my Shepherd” with 12 minutes remaining.

But with Brunt struggling to find his range and touch and Portsmouth refusing to yield an inch, the clock ticked down to the final whistle without Albion being able to carve out another significant opportunity.

At the final whistle there was great camaraderie between the two sets of players as Portsmouth’s group acknowledged the effort made against them by their second-tier foes, but that could not remove a sense of injustice within the Albion camp over the scoreline.

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