NEITHER finalist has won the FA Cup since the old king died, which makes even Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink feel younger than springtime, and while Portsmouth may be odds-on favourites next Saturday, they need to beware the piratical goalscorer with a diamond in his ear and thunder in his boots.

At 36, the Dutch master is enjoying not so much an Indian summer as a balmy winter with Cardiff City and is intent on making the most of one last, unexpected hurrah in front of a worldwide audience for whom he had become a where-are-they-now? quiz question.

The popular perception was that Hasselbaink was washed up after managing just two goals in 25 league appearances as Charlton were relegated last season, but he has bounced back so well that he is about to be offered a new contract by his appreciative Welsh employers. Dave Jones, the Cardiff manager, took a gamble when financial imperatives forced him to sell Michael Chopra to Sunderland last summer. The England Under21 international had scored 22 times in the Championship, so how was a club on its uppers, with the receiver at the door, to replace those goals? Jones plumped for Hasselbaink and Robbie Fowler, a comparative stripling at 32.

Sacrificing mobility for nous has proved a partial success, the two old gunslingers hitting the target only 15 times between them, but Hasselbaink is the one who has earned his big wages, playing 42 games in all competitions and contributing a lot more than his nine goals might suggest. Fowler, troubled by a hip condition that could finish his career, has played 13 times in the Championship and not at all in the FA Cup. Jones switched a winger, Paul Parry, into the middle and he has responded well, outscoring his more celebrated partner by 11 goals to nine.

The cup, however, is all about romance, and Hasselbaink is the quixotic story. He arrived to renew old acquaintance in style, in a top-of-the-range 4x4 – Jones was not far behind on his bike – but age has mellowed him and this was chummy “Jimmy”, as opposed to the haughty “Call me Jimmy Floyd” of his pomp. Had he thought he was finished at the end of last season? It was the sort of opening gambit that would have terminated the interview before it started in the old days, but there was no trace of irritation as he replied: “No, I definitely thought I still had a future in football, I had no doubt about that.”

Even after his ill-fated sojourn at The Unhappy Valley? “I’m a lot fitter than I was at Charlton, where I didn’t play many games, and that was a vicious circle,” he said. “If you don’t play regularly, you’re never really match fit and you get injured more. This season I’ve played a lot and I’ve had a few niggles, but nothing to keep me out three or four weeks. I’ve enjoyed my time here.”

He was playing with a smile on his face, which was not always the case, but he had thought the big occasions, like next Saturday, were gone. “I didn’t expect anything like this,” he said, “but football is a beautiful thing, and the unexpected happens. That’s why we all love the game. One day you’re moaning about losing at Scunthorpe, then something like this comes along.

“At the beginning of the season, our aim was to get in the playoffs, but the number of matches we had to play [the cup final will be the 56th], and operating with a thin squad made it very difficult to compete on two fronts. We were not far off the playoffs, and we’ve done magnificently to get to the final of the FA Cup.”

Players such as Joe Ledley, who is coveted by Everton, Stephen McPhail, who played in the Champions League for Leeds, and Aaron Ramsey, the 17-year-old prodigy, will pass, pass and pass again at Wembley, but will their technique stand up to Portsmouth, who are big and physical as well as Premier League quality?

“The manager will come up with a plan to counter their strengths, as he did when we knocked out Middlesbrough,” Hasselbaink shot back. “Portsmouth are a good team, but on our day, so are we. We played Middlesbrough off the park and they were big and physical as well. Portsmouth’s size is the least of our problems.”

In terms of personal motivation, nobody comes close to the man from Surinam. “Winning would mean everything to me,” Hasselbaink said. “The only cup I’ve ever won was in Portugal [with Boavista in 1997]. I’ve lost in the FA Cup final [with Chelsea], the final of the Spanish Cup [with Atletico Madrid], the Uefa Cup final [with Boro], the semi-finals of the Champions League [Leeds] and the semi-finals of the World Cup [with Holland in 1998, when he was in the Dutch squad but didn’t play].” Does he sound like a jinx? “No,” he said, beaming. “because this time I’m gonna win!”