Cardiff, Portsmouth, West Brom, Barnsley - meet the new Big Four!

When I was growing up in the South Wales valleys 50 years ago, my ultimate dream was to see my beloved Cardiff City in the FA Cup Final at Wembley.

My dad had told me about that magic day in 1927 when Arsenal’s Welsh keeper Dan Lewis chucked the ball into his own net for the only goal. It’s still the only occasion the coveted trophy has ever left England (apart, that is, from in transit when the Final was played at the Millennium Stadium.

During Cardiff’s time in the old First Division in the early ‘60s, there seemed every chance my dream might come true while I was still relatively young. But as the years went by and we plummeted to obscurity, I came to terms with the fact that I couldn’t possibly live long enough to see it happen.

For half a century until this season, we never progressed beyond the fifth round. It was a real rarity for us to still to be in the competition in February, let alone March.

Even when we thumped Wolves a few weeks back to make the quarter-finals, I saw it as a freak situation. After all, we had only seen off the might of minnows Chasetown and Hereford to get to the fifth round.

Realistically, I thought it would all end at the Riverside today, though I knew that if we played to our potential and Middlesbrough had a bit of an off-day, we had a genuine chance. After all, we have a reputation among Championship opponents as one of the best ball-playing teams in the division - if not THE best. Barnsley boss for one reckons we are just that, even if he is a Swansea Jack who wanted Boro to win. See you at Wembley, Simon.

The way we saw Gareth Southgate’s pathetic plodders with such ease has me thinking the unbelievable - particularly after the demise of Man United and Chelsea. For goodness sake, who would have believed we could ever get to the last four in the 21st century without a single team from the so-called Big Four - and only one from the Premier League?

Yes, we really CAN win the FA Cup. Indeed, I’m going to be really choked now if we don’t. OK, West Brom thumped Bristol Rovers 5-1 on their own patch tonight, but what does it matter? We've scored seven goals against them in two games this season - and I can't remember the last time Barnsley beat us. As for Pompey, the competition has gone so crazily in favour of the underdogs that I reckon we'd be odd-on to beat them.

Here I am, approaching pensionable age, having spent a lifetime supporting a team that has forever sold its best players. Poor Dave Jones has had to dispense with virtually an entire team of Premiership class stars in the three years he’s been at the club. Why, poor Chris Gunter didn't even have time to become a regular first-teamer before Spurs whipped him away in the last transfer window for a couple of million or more.

Yet some judicious purchases by the wily Jones plus the unearthing of some remarkable young talent has kept the ship afloat. Just.