Shocks all round

In the strange world that is football it is the FA Cup that often proves the most eventful with a history of shocks and upsets that no other competition can match.

It is difficult to know why this might be but last weekend has only added to the legend and it will be a long time before anything like this happens again - which is not surprising given that it is 100 years since only one top flight side has contested the semi-finals.

The first lamb to the slaughter was Manchester United who had a home game against Portsmouth to overcome - and given they had won 2-0 at an absolute canter in a corresponding fixture two weeks earlier - there was not a lot of optimism going the south coast side's way.

Riding your luck is a crucial skill for any aspiring giant-killer but to say Portsmouth did this is an understatement of gigantic proportions.

Chance after chance, perceived injustice after perceived injustice, and as many wasted opportunities as you can imagine fell the way of the champions ... but they just could not score.

This was no United second team with Ronaldo, Tevez and Rooney all starting. But, nowadays, with David James in goal any side would have a fighting chance. He is in exceptional form and with Campbell and Distin in front of him Portsmouth held on for 78 minutes which was when they got their big break with a cast iron penalty.

With Kuszczak being sent off for the foul, having already replaced Van de Sar, it was left to Rio Ferdinand to go in goal and he was no match for Sully Muntari's penalty strike. For the last 12 minutes Portsmouth hung on and started a chain of events few could have ever anticipated.

The evening game saw Chelsea travel to Barnsley for what should have been a comfortable victory but they started slowly and were never able to raise their tempo once they went behind to man of the match Odejayi's header. Avram Grant cannot be accused of not picking a strong side but it is difficult to imagine this happening to any team under Mourinho.

This is the Israeli's problem in that the 'special ones' spectre hangs forever over his tenure and until he wins something it always will.

Now that the FA Cup is gone along with the Carling Cup, only the Champions League and Premiership are left ... and neither are straightforward. It is going to be a tense and defining moment in his Chelsea career but he does have the players and the only question mark is, does he have the formula to see it through.

Sunday morning saw a fresh light spread over proceedings with Saturday's freak results put in that context - freak - and we all waited for normality to reign. Sadly, for all rationalists out there, nothing of the sort happened.

Cardiff City of the Championship turned up at Premiership Middlesbrough expecting to put up a good show but ultimately miss out on a trip to Wembley. However, from the first minute to the last it was impossible to imagine that these two teams were from the division they were representing. That was how poor Middlesbrough were and that's how good Cardiff played, it was not a contest from start to finish.

In this column last week I raised the possibility that the Tynesiders might struggle in their relegation battle to stay in the Premiership given their fixture list but judged on this 2-0 defeat it looks a certainty they will have a fight on their hands.

Cardiff, meanwhile, are dreaming of repeating their 1927 FA Cup triumph but their biggest battle may lie off the pitch this week as a the club has a court hearing about unpaid loans that may force them into administration. Nothing should take their moment of glory away from them but the chairman will not be sleeping as soundly as might be expected.

The last game of the round was a home game for Bristol Rovers against West Bromwich Albion and finally order was restored. Even though the 5-1 scoreline was very flattering there was no doubt where the quality in players lay, which was especially true when Kevin Phillips came on as a second half substitute.

Rovers managers Paul Trollope's assessment that "they had a bit too much for us up front ... they looked like scoring each time they attacked" was about right but all credit to the West Country side and with so many games in hand because of the cup run, promotion to the Championship via the playoffs is still a possibility.

As the weekend drew to a close and reputations lay in tatters it was satisfying to reflect that in this competition at least the minnows can occasionally win out against the big boys. Of course, one swallow does not make a summer but it certainly brings a smile to the face when money and huge squads don't always get their way.

Three cheers for the romance of the Cup.