Henry Winter: FA Cup victory shows Avram Grant is restoring pride at Portsmouth

By Henry Winter Published: 10:03PM GMT 06 March 2010

Time to cheer: Avram Grant is full of happiness as Portsmouth better Birmingham to reach the FA Cup roughly finals Photo: AFP

On Saturday, between scattered scenes at Fratton Park, Grant led his strong misfits to Wembley.

Portsmouth have had so most ripped afar from them recently, from points to heading players, but they never lost their belief.

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Their manager, the man with a hang-dog"s see and the underdog"s drive, is mostly obliged for that. How the Pompey true love Grant. How they revelled in this better of Birmingham City.

When set opposite Pompey"s grievous debts, the income brought in by victory, �622,350, with roughly the same again on trial from Wembley, is a dump in the Solent but it transmitted a summary that the bar are alive and kicking, that they are value shopping by any examination suitor.

Grant has got them playing, got them surpassing along the highway to Wembley by formulating a tactical horizon (4-2-3-1) and daring mood that brings the most appropriate out of Tal Ben Haim, Jamie O"Hara, Michael Brown and Frederic Piquionne, whose dual goals in five second-half mins influenced genuine intrigue in to the FA Cup.

Derided at Chelsea in the arise of Jose Mourinho"s departure, Grant has struggled to be taken severely on these shores. Until now.

Grant has been increasingly expel in a drastic light at Fratton Park, evoking memories between fans of the approach Alan Ball stood organisation here between the monetary woes of 1998-99. Some praise.

Whether saluting the travelling await at St Mary"s or Turf Moor, Grant"s romantic rendezvous with the Pompey fans is inescapable.

"This is a diversion of passion,"" runs Grant"s mantra. "I try to put myself on the sidelines and recollect when I was a kid and upheld my team. These supporters merit someone who will quarrel for them.""

Pompey supporters were at their outspoken most appropriate here on Saturday, giving Grant and his players a tickertape reception, notwithstanding the bar indicating stewards would allocate any found on entry. (The fans believed that was since all the brooms, dust-pans and brushes had been sold).

Always ingenuous, Portsmouth supporters simply formulated a plan to take in copies of The Sun, assumingly the journal of preference for tickertapers.

"Do what the girls did in the old days, filch it dark in your knickers,"" one fan suggested associate supporters on Friday evening.

"My ex got 4 copies of The Sun, the uncondensed functions of Shakespeare and the Encyclopaedia Britannica in that way."" Pompey have lost most in new months but not their humour.

As the tickertape fell to earth, 3 sides of Fratton Park shook to "Avram Grant"s blue and white army"". Inspired by the fans, well-prepared by Grant, Portsmouth"s players brimmed with integrity opposite Birmingham in an FA Cup tie of flourishing grandeur.

O"Hara set the tone, gnawing in to tackles on Lee Bowyer, cranking the sound higher. Birmingham knew they were in a scrap.

Nadir Belhadj additionally held the mood, chasing a 15th-minute lost means down the left as if his hold up depended on it. David James, dropping smartly to his right, pushed afar Cameron Jerome"s shot. Brown quickly took the insurgency as well far, clattering Bowyer for the second time and being cautioned.

Apart from that first-half lapse, Brown all the time displayed his some-more helpful qualities, tracking behind to have clearances, starting by frustrating Jerome.

Steve Finnan afterwards loser Keith Fahey. Marc Wilson played an critical role, helmet the behind four. There was a collectivity about Grant"s men embodied in their pre-match huddle.

Midway by a bad initial half, usually when space non-stop up for Pompey, the vicious fates intervened. Spotting Danny Webber"s dart out wide, Belhadj sought to brush the round from left to right, usually for it to be incidentally intercepted by the referee, Steve Bennett. When you"re down… Not for long. Grant"s side refused to be downcast, fortifying stoutly.

Finnan threw himself in front of James McFadden"s shot. Ben Haim bending the round transparent as Jerome lurked. Brown done blocks on Bowyer and McFadden in quick succession.

Defensively superb prior to the break, Portsmouth demonstrated their aggressive corner in the second period, responding to Grant"s half-time words. When Scott Dann collided with Joe Hart, Piquionne tapped in the simplest of chances.

Lightning struck twice on the South Coast. O"Hara slid Piquionne by and his finish was expert, swept underneath Hart. Grant responded with a thumbs up. Portsmouth might be going down but Grant has easy a little pride, indicating them to Wembley.