Opinion: When a boycott isn't a boycott as Portsmouth prepare for another Wembley show of strength

I kept telling myself in the build-up to the game I wasn’t really bothered whether Pompey won it or not – in keeping, really, with the fact I never had any intention of going.

But when it came to it, and I was following the action from afar, of course I wanted us to win. As much as I’d tried to be indifferent about it, I was as jubilant as the next Blues fan that we’d go through to the final for a second straight year.

I’m not ashamed to say I went to Wembley last season and will (as long as I get a ticket) do so again this time.

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I admire those who have always boycotted the competition and will continue that stance for the final as many would have done last year. But my staying away from this competition has never been a boycott – it’s been because I’ve not been terribly interested in it.

In the same way, I never used to go to Anglo-Italian Cup matches.

Wembley, though, is Wembley. A game there involving your own team is special and I wouldn’t want to miss it – especially if it is even half as good as last year’s visit, when of course Nathan Thompson and Jamal Lowe scored to take it to the shootout that we won.

I’m not of the view that our involvement in a long Trophy run affected our promotion chances last year, and I don’t think it will this year. Nor, in my opinion, does our FA Cup run.

The cups are the cups and there have been plenty of teams down the decades who have had success in one of them and the league in the same campaign.

I shall look forward to Wembley when the big day comes and promise there’ll be no ‘I don't care if we win' this time.