They called it the fans’ final but in reality the FA Cup belongs to Harry Redknapp, who has spent 25 years in management waiting for a moment like this, and to Portsmouth, who have been waiting since 1939. The only goal was a scruffy one, gifted to Nwankwo Kanu, but their legions of fans cared not a jot for that as the famous “Pompey Chimes” rang round Wembley and all the way back to the south coast.

For Cardiff there were only tears at the end of a marvellous run and some tiny consolation in the fact that they played football that was a credit to the Championship. For most of the match, they were the equal of their more celebrated opponents and they can take heart from the infinite promise shown by two young stars of the future, Joe Ledley and Aaron Ramsey. If they can keep them, promotion beckons next season. Unfortunately, the likelihood is that their financial predicament will dictate that one or both is sold. They will be no lack of Premier League takers after this.

Sadly for the individual concerned, the outcome was determined by one mistake by Peter Enckelman, the Cardiff goalkeeper. The position has been a problem for the Welsh club all season and never more so than after 37 minutes here when Enckelman palmed a cross from John Utaka straight to Kanu, who scored from two yards. Cardiff contributed to their first final since 1927 in handsome measure and would have had an equaliser at the end of the first half but for the gimlet eye of the referee, Mike Dean, who spotted that Glenn Loovens, the Dutch centre-half, had handled the ball before beating David James with a shot reminiscent of Ledley’s against Middlesbrough in the sixth round.

Ramsey’s precocious second-half cameo, when he came on in place of Peter Whittingham, was one of the highlights, his intelligent movement and clever passing a delight, but the day belonged to Portsmouth and how they loved it. Typically, after embracing his assistant Tony Adams at the final whistle, Redknapp’s first thought was for his opposite number, Dave Jones, to whom he offered both commiserations and congratulations for a thoroughly creditable performance.

Neville Chamberlain was still in appeasement mode the last time either of these teams got to the final but, contrary to the snobs’ view, it was a breath of fresh air to have a break from the endless familiarity of the Big Four. For the neutral observer, the hope had to be that Cardiff would rise to the occasion more competitively than the last Championship side to get to the final. Dennis Wise’s Millwall were not only poor but woefully unambitious in losing 3-0 to Manchester United four years ago. To universal relief, Cardiff were much better. Their progress has bordered on the fairytale, the club having been perilously close to insolvency and administration in mid-season. Their expectations were so limited that there was no provision for getting to Wembley in the bonus system agreed by the players.

Portsmouth retained their tried-and-trusted 4-5-1 formation, with Kanu preferred to Milan Baros as the lone striker. If there was a surprise in their lineup, it was the selection of Pedro Mendes in place of the man mountain that is Papa Bouba Diop in midfield. Cardiff were at full strength, which meant no place – even on the bench – for Robbie Fowler, fit again after five months out with a hip injury. Their formation was marginally more adventurous, with Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink playing just behind Paul Parry and supported by Ledley on the left flank.

Cardiff have a reputation for playing good, constructive football and lived up to it from the start. They were encouraged by their success in fashioning the first chance, when Ledley’s through-pass played in Parry, who was halted in the act of shooting by James’s well-timed advance from his line. Pompey should have scored midway through the first half when Kanu, supplied by Sulley Muntari’s cross, turned with characteristic dexterity to evade Loovens then took the ball past Enckelman, only to shoot against the goalkeeper’s right-hand post from barely three yards. Within five minutes, Cardiff had a decent chance of their own, when Roger Johnson, who scored a memorable headed goal in the sixth-round victory at Boro, nodded over from Tony Capaldi’s free kick.

The goal took the form of a self-inflicted wound. Utaka’s right-wing cross was a good one but Enckelman should have dealt with it without great difficulty. Instead, he spilled the ball at the feet of Kanu, who gratefully knocked it into the unguarded net with Johnson looking at his maladroit goalkeeper in despair. Cardiff hit back immediately but Parry’s cross from the left asked too much of the incoming Kevin McNaughton at the far post.

They had the ball in the net as the first half went into its second minute of stoppage time after a handling error by James, which will not have gone unnoticed by Fabio Capello who was in attendance. Fortunately for James, and Portsmouth, the referee had spotted Loovens’s handball before he shot past the England goalkeeper.

The force was with Portsmouth after their goal, and in attempting to remedy that situation Jones introduced Ramsey in place of Whittingham with two-thirds of the match played. Redknapp in turn sent on David Nugent, who made his fast-diminishing reputation against Championship opposition. Within a minute of getting on, the striker quirkily capped by England tested Enckelman’s dodgy hands with a rasping drive, repelled with something that looked suspiciously like alarm.

Conceding had sapped Cardiff’s belief but they pressed forward in increasingly urgent pursuit of equality and threatened to regain it with 15 minutes left when Loovens met Ramsey’s corner with a firm, downward header that bounced over James’s crossbar. Young Ramsey had some delightful moments and Roger Johnson had a shot blocked right at the death but the cup was Portsmouth’s and they knew it, so much so that Redknapp sent on Milan Baros in place of Kanu – a classic case of counting headless chickens.