THERE was a real effort to portray Portsmouth’s FA Cup semi-final victory as being one for the romantics, but this is a distortion of the truth.

Romance in football is all but dead at the elite level and certainly doesn’t exist at Fratton Park.

The Portsmouth players are not a collection of homegrown youngsters or a group of committed professionals, pluckily playing above their abilities.

Instead they are showing that they have, on the whole, significantly underperformed this season.

There’s a certain amount of irony that the competition which is credited with causing their financial problems (it didn’t, they would have recklessly spent almost the same money without their 2008 success) is providing a final highlight to their current spell as a Premier League club.

But there’s still time for it to end in more tears.

The fragile nature of their squad, hindered by the limitations of administration which may make some players ineligible unless they waive contractual benefits, could mean that an on-song Chelsea could produce the most one-sided final for many years.

Chelsea players may well cast a glance at the 4-0 defeat the club suffered against Manchester United in 1994 and see it as something to target.

Rather than being a romantic final appearance on May 15, it could instead be the kiss of death for Portsmouth.