The brazen intruders who gatecrashed Portsmouth’s last Wembley silverware

That 2008 FA Cup final triumph over Cardiff City will forever remain a source of immense Pompey pride, surely continued to be cherished by those too young to offer first-hand Wembley recollection.

Tomorrow, perhaps, could be the creation of a new chapter, albeit involving a Checkatrade Trophy lacking the sheen of its contemporaries.

Triumph over Sunderland, no matter how much appreciated, could never eclipse the feat of a Harry Redknapp side which ended a 69-year FA Cup absence.

Yet for those one day pouring over the history books, may we wish them the greatest of luck identifying the Blues heroes pictured indulging in post-match celebrations of May 2008.

For among jubilant players partaking in the traditional on-pitch team photograph are a number of infiltrators, entirely unrecognisable in their own lifetime, let alone anyone else’s.

Blue-suited invaders barging onto centre stage for the curtain call, relegating far-more deserving acts such as Hermann Hreidarsson and Sulley Muntari to the periphery.

Never before has an FA Cup victory been won by so few, yet claimed by so many.

Roughly 23 players occupy the photograph now immortalised on the back wall on the lower South stand, albeit the image is widely available.

Even the most ardent Pompey fan would struggle to name all those depicted, particularly the unfamiliar faces shamelessly jostling for ill-gotten limelight.

Take the gentleman immediately to the left of the FA Cup, positioned beside Kanu and blocking skipper Sol Campbell from having a clear run on camera.

In fact, Lucien Aubey – for that’s his name – is holding Kanu’s man-of-the-match champagne, an award earlier presented in recognition of the Nigerian’s match winner.

Aubey, a defender on loan from Lens for six months, made just three appearances – and never played a match at Fratton Park.

Departing the Blues that summer, he joined Rennes in a permanent deal, later earning international recognition for Congo, totalling five caps.

Domestically, according to worldfootball.net, Aubey accrued just 43 more career appearances in five years after leaving Pompey, his final club was Cypriot side Olympiakos Nicosia in 2013.

Hovering over his right shoulder is Arnold Mvuemba who, in fairness, did make three Premier League starts that season and featured twice in earlier rounds of the FA Cup.

Despite their prominent position in the team photo, neither made the cup final squad.

At least Mvuemba started the third-round 1-0 victory at Ipswich, while appeared as a half-time substitute in the following round against Plymouth.

The former French under-21 midfielder’s Fratton Park career totalled 32 appearances, while his two goals included netting at Wolfsburg in a 3-2 Uefa Cup defeat on a bitterly-cold evening in December 2008.

Mvuemba exited for Lorient in the summer of 2009, also representing Lyon in the French top flight. Aged 34, he is currently with Qatari side Umm Salal SC.

To the right of the trophy can be observed another suited character dominating the front row, sandwiched between John Utaka and Pedro Mendes, with clench fist raised in mock triumph.

Danijel Subotic, for it is he, was a Swiss under-19 striker who arrived at the club six months earlier. He never made a first-team appearance.

The following season he was loaned to Zulte Waregem following a feeder club link-up between Pompey and the Belgian side.

Back in the Blues fold in 2009-10, he never played for the club again after shown a red card for spitting at a Birmingham City opponent while on reserve-team duty at Westleigh Park.

Upon his release by mutual consent in August 2010, Subotic embarked on a nomadic career embracing 11 clubs in eight countries, including Azerbaijan, Kuwait and Kazakhstan.

Now aged 30, this season he has represented Romanian team Dinamo Bucuresti.

Positioned the other side of Mendes, apparently the only suited player without a tie, is Franck Songo'o, a winger released the following month following four Blues outings.

Recruited from Barcelona in a £250,000 deal three years earlier, during his Fratton Park tenancy he was sent on loan to Bournemouth, Preston, Palace and Sheffield Wednesday.

Following his departure in the summer of 2008, Songo’o linked-up with Real Zaragoza, had a loan spell at Real Sociedad, and turned out for Portland Timbers in the MLS.

It appears his last club was PAS Giannina in Greece and that was in 2014. Currently aged 31, there is no record of him playing since.

Shortly after leaving Pompey, the France under-19 international switched allegiance to Cameroon, the country of his birth, subsequently earning three caps.

Turning attention to the centre of the photograph, a face lurks around the left shoulder of Papa Bouba Diop, whose hands clutch the trophy.

That is John-Francois Christophe, a French midfielder also never handed a Blues appearance, but briefly found Football League action elsewhere.

Recruited from Rennes earlier that FA Cup season, the youngster was loaned to Bournemouth, Yeovil and Southend.

It was at Roots Hall where he settled permanently in January 2009 for an undisclosed fee, making 61 appearances and scoring four times.

After leaving England following a campaign with Lincoln in 2011-12, Christophe operated in the lower divisions in Belgium and France and was last heard of at French club US Vimy two years ago.

It remains to be seen whether tomorrow we shall witness the emergence of a new photograph featuring jubilant Blues basking in silverware claimed on the Wembley turf.

Perhaps Brett Pitman, Matt Clarke and Jamal Lowe will be shoulder charged aside in vainglorious clamour for front-row attention from unwarranted company.

Thumbing through the pages from 11 years ago, those FA Cup interlopers clearly enjoyed themselves, gatecrashing an historic moment – and in the process achieving Pompey immortality.

The problem is, few will ever be able to put names to those joyous faces.