Snow in April? About as likely as Barnsley and Cardiff City meeting in the semi-finals of the FA Cup. Still, torrents of the white stuff formed a blanket over much of Britain yesterday morning and two of the Coca-Coca Championship’s less glamorous clubs slugged it out at the revamped “Venue of Legends”.

At least the early chaos on the weather-beaten roads, after the last supporters out of South Wales and South Yorkshire had shut the doors behind them, had not affected the turn-out in a wintry North London. A crowd of 83,584, a record for a Cup semi-final, had watched Portsmouth defeat West Bromwich Albion there on Saturday; a further 82,752 – many of them last-four virgins, presumably - packed into the stadium yesterday.

Statistics abounded, writ large on the scoreboards. A record total of 731 clubs had entered the competition before the extra preliminary round got under way in August. Before the weekend, 1,941,263 fans had watched 887 matches and seen 2,868 goals scored. Only one goal, a looping first-half effort from Joe Ledley, was added to the tally as Cardiff secured a notable scalp on English soil. How the Wales midfield player will have enjoyed that; how the whole of Wales will have enjoyed it. There is nothing like beating the arrogant English.

Barnsley were not arrogant. In fact, many of their players are not English. They were, though, limited in imagination and poor in execution. When Kayode Odejayi, the match-winner against Chelsea in the sixth round, strode through alone in the 66th minute, parity appeared inevitable. But he shot wide: one match the hero, next match the villain.

At the final whistle, the red hordes of Barnsley disappeared quickly for the trek back up the M1 and a relegation issue to resolve. The blue hordes stayed and partied, gorging on victory and a first place in the FA Cup Final for 81 years. Men of Harlech blared out over the loudspeakers and the players dived in unison on to the pitch. It will have been a lot more enjoyable trip back down the M4.