Michael Brown: I have never seen such joy in fans’ faces since Portsmouth’s Wembley win over Spurs

That May 2010 occasion signalled the end of a recurring Wembley presence for the Blues, totalling five trips in a memorable period spanning little more than two years.

Of those showpiece fixtures, four arrived in the FA Cup, while a 2008 Community Shield appearance against Manchester United completed the haul.

Now, approaching nine years later, the Blues are booked in for another visit, courtesy of Sunday’s Checkatrade Trophy final against Sunderland.

Michael Brown featured prominently during that 2010 FA Cup progress under manager Avram Grant, which represents Pompey’s previous trip to the home of football.

A 1-0 loss to Premier League champions Chelsea closed an otherwise unhappy campaign which yielded relegation, administration, a nine-point deduction and redundancy for 85 club staff.

Nonetheless, there was always Spurs.

And it was that April 2010 semi-final 2-0 success over Harry Redknapp’s much-fancied side that Brown is convinced symbolises the true silverware during that memorable Cup run.

The former midfielder said: ‘That Spurs game is right up there in my career - and the celebrations are right at the top. And I’m not just saying that.

‘To win that day was quite remarkable, to be honest with you. Everybody thought we would lose, including ourselves. What happened was ridiculous.

‘It was a very good Spurs team, with Modric, Bale, Kranjcar, Defoe and Crouch. It was a great team performance from us to beat them, an amazing day.

‘Irrespective of what happened against Chelsea in the final, in our eyes we’d won the Cup by beating Spurs that day. And the atmosphere was also better than the final.

‘During my entire playing career, I have never seen such joy in supporters’ faces than I did at that semi-final. I will never forget that.

‘Before the quarter-final against Birmingham, the club was almost going out of business, the doors were closing, so to win that game set it up. It gave everyone a little bit of a lift, something to look forward to in a bad time.

‘Then it was onto Spurs. We stopped them as much as we could, Avram got the team shape right and it was a battling performance. To win at 2-0 was amazing, those celebrations were mega.

‘I remember Hayden Mullins, a central midfielder, at left-back, it was a brilliant team performance.

‘There was certainly quality in that side, but we were very inconsistent throughout the season and, ultimately, that is why we ended up at the bottom end of the table. It was such a bad start that it was hard to recover.

‘But Spurs was special - and we also had an FA Cup final afterwards.’

Relegated Pompey faced newly-crowned Premier League champions Chelsea in that May 2010 final.

The scoreline was goalless when, on 54 minutes, substitute Juliano Belletti brought down Boateng for a penalty.

The soon-to-be Ghana international had already netted from the spot in the semi-final against Spurs.

But, on this occasion, his poorly-struck kick was saved by Petr Cech.

Brown added: ‘You have to look back at the final and ask what would have happened if he had scored that penalty?

‘Kev gets a dream move to AC Milan, and is now at Barcelona. Well, score that penalty and see where that would have taken us all rather than just him!

‘In fairness, he didn’t mean to miss it. I just wish that had gone in to give us that emotion of a celebration. Even if we still lost the final, just something to cheer about on the day.

‘There is every chance we could have won had it gone in.

‘You look at the game, Jamo (David James) making great saves, Salomon Kalou hitting the bar, and you’re thinking “This could be our day here”.

‘You get the opportunity against a title-winning team like Chelsea and you have to take it.

‘Kev was a good lad, a player with great ability who showed calmness, coolness and quality in other games, it was just a case he missed a penalty at that moment.

‘Drogba scored within five minutes and that was it. Fine margins.’

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