The road to Wembley.... Updated

It all started at Church St, Chasetown back in January. The home side were the lowest ever ranked club to make the third round and thoughts of a massive giant-killing were on the cards when Keven McNaughton scored an own goal to sent the home fans wild.

Sadly for them Cardiff rallied, Peter Whittingham scored to level before half time and Aaron Ramsey and Paul Parry finished the minnows off. Cardiff fans had a great day at Chasetown and were proud to be part of the history of the part timers from Staffordshire.

Chasetown 1 - 3 Cardiff City. Match Report.

Round 4 and Cardiff were on their travels again. Not so far this time. A short hop to Hereford. Another potential banana skin for City with Hereford competing well in league 2. A bright sunny day welcomed the teams onto the pitch where Kevin Mc Naighton managed to score at the right end with a stunning volley. Steve Thompson made it 2 - 0 with a second half penalty before Hereford pulled a goal back to make it a nervy finish but City came through.

Hereford Utd 1 - 2 Cardiff City. Match Report.

Round 5 and a home tie. City fans were nervous. We'd never won a 5th round tie in 81 years. Last time we came close was in 1994 so there was a barrier to cross. There was no need to worry though two goals in the opening 11 minutes won the game for City. Peter Whittingham through one on one after just 2 minutes and then a classic from Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink curling into the top corner on 11 mins. Game over and into the hat for round 6. The 1/4 final.

Cardiff City 2 - 0 Wolves. Match Report.

The big clubs were dropping like flies out of the FA Cup. Only Man Utd and Chelsea were left from the big 4 and by the end of the Saturday of 1/4 final weekend both of them had been dumped out of the competition. City went to Middlesbrough with the home side sensing they could go all the way. Again City hit their opponents with a double whammy. First a sublime piece of skill from Peter Whittingham opened the scoring and then Whitt's set up Roger Johnson to head home the second goal. City 2 - 0 up inside 23 minutes and they never looked like losing the game. In fact it was Cardiff who looked the Premier league side while Middlesbrough faced the wrath of their fans for a dismal home performance. And that was that. Cardiff City were on their way to Wembley after it decided earlier in the year that the semi finals would be player there.

Middlesbrough 0 - 2 Cardiff City. Match Report.

To be continued........

And so it is continued.

Sunday April 6th, 2008 Cardiff City beat Barnsley in the semi final at Wembley and the real road to Wembley story can now be told. It's not the road to the semi final but to the final itself. A superb day for Cardiff fans in North London ended with Alan Wiley's final whistle after 94 minutes of a semi final that saw The Bluebirds reach one of football's Holy Grails.

Grown men, and women cried as the realisation that the current squad are re-writing history hit home. 1927 has been the one date of legendary status at the club. We are now one game away from etching 2008 to the foundations of Cardiff City FC.

Joe Ledley, a Fairwater lad, scored the winning goal with a 20 yard volley. The keeper was nowhere and Cardiff City, backed by over 33,000 fans made it to the final to face Portsmouth. Pompey had beaten West Brom 1 - 0 24 hours earlier.

Hard luck to Barnsley. A thoroughly decent teams with decent supporters. They have great memories from beating Liverpool and Chelsea. Now hopefully Cardiff can produce a result in May that will live with us until our dying day.

Barnsley 0 - 1 Cardiff City. Match Report.