The FA Cup has only been out of England once (unless you add in the years when the final was played at the Millennium Stadium). And it’s a pretty fair bet that Cardiff City won’t repeat their 1927 achievement this year.

The Bluebirds have never been beyond the fifth round since that glorious day against Arsenal 81 years ago – an achievement that, as a lifelong Cardiff fan, I have been all too aware of since I first started supporting them in the mid-50s. In fact, I can only remember us getting to the last 16 twice – the most auspicious occasion being when we actually made it into the sixth-round draw, only to lose in a fifth-round replay to Blackburn. That must have been in the early '60s because I distinctly remember we would have had a home tie against Liverpool in the quarter-finals – and in those days we were one of their jinx teams.

Ever since the day we won 4-0 at Anfield in Bill Shankly’s first game as manager, we seemed to beat them time after time until they embarked on their golden era and we plummeted out of the then First Division, never to return.

'If you think Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink is past it at 37, just take a look at his spectacular goal against Wolves'


Cardiff’s special days since then have been rare, to say the least. Possibly the most notable was reaching the last four of the European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1968 after an astonishing run which was ended only by a last-minute goal by SV Hamburg in the second leg of the semi-final. We were in the old Second Division then, as we were when we reached the semis of the old League Cup back in 1964, only to be hammered 10-3 on aggregate by West Ham.

There were a yo-yo of promotions and relegations between the lower divisions in the '80s and '90s, before we really hit the headlines as a Third Division club in 2002 by knocking Premiership leaders Leeds United out of the FA Cup. David O’Leary’s men came to Ninian Park for a third-round tie they were expected to win at a canter.

With star names like Rio Ferdinand, Jonathan Woodgate and Mark Viduka in the line-up, Cardiff were expected to provide no more than token resistance. The Bluebirds’ then chairman Sam Hammam got the pot boiling by claiming Cardiff were a bigger club than Leeds – and then, watched by millions live on TV, watched as his team overturned an early Viduka goal to win 2-1.

A year later we won promotion to the second tier of English football for the first time since 1985 – and we've been there ever since without making much of a ripple. OK, we topped the Championship for a couple of months early last season, but the subsequent fadeaway of our under-strength squad was predictably expected.

Now the Welsh capital has gone cup mad – but for what? Let’s look realistically at City’s achievement in reaching the sixth round. Just who have they beaten to come within 90 minutes of a semi-final joust with more than likely Manchester United or Chelsea at Wembley?

hey disposed of mighty Chasetown in the third round and the marginally more threatening Hereford United in the fourth. Admittedly both games were away but defeats in either would have been major shocks. Then came the big one (well, comparatively) – a visit by Mick McCarthy’s Wolves last weekend. Considering the Midlanders are below Cardiff in the middle of the Championship table, there was little surprise in the Bluebirds' 2-0 victory, either. S

So here we are in the last eight – thanks to probably the easiest draw anyone has ever had. For the first time in this year’s competition, Dave Jones’s men will start as underdogs if they visit Middlesbrough in the quarter final. Less so if they face Sheffield United at Bramall Lane.

But one thing is certain. They are capable of beating either team – and there’s a fair bet that if it’s Boro they face, the Premier League outfit will underestimate the quality of the opposition. For Cardiff are no cloggers - rather a cultured outfit who were described recently by West Brom manager Tony Mowbray as one of the best passing side in the division.

They’ve not even missed their biggest-name player Robbie Fowler, who has managed only a handful of appearances since his much-publicised arrival at Ninian Park last summer. The injury-racked Scouser has been on crutches for weeks, leaving fellow ex-celebrity Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink to do the showboating up front.

If you think the Dutchman is past it at 37, just take a look at his spectacular goal against Wolves. Any striker in the world would have been proud of that scintillating shimmy and 18-yard curler into the top corner that all but killed off the challenge of McCarthy’s men after just ten minutes.

During his years at Chelsea, Leeds and Boro, Hasselbaink never managed to win an FA Cup medal. But he’s certainly not planning to be moping down by the Riverside when the semi-finalists are decided early next month.