HARRY REDKNAPP looks like the sort of geezer who would know what the FA Cup would be worth if it were melted down and sold for scrap. The Football Association handed it to him yesterday, knowing they will have to wait 12 months before he gives it back.

Redknapp looked like the cat that got the cream at Wembley after landing the first significant honour of a managerial career in its 25th year. Portsmouth inched over the finishing line with the sort of drab, efficient performance which had characterised their run through the tournament. It did not matter: their fans don't often see them win trophies and weren't in the mood to worry about anyone giving them low marks for artistic impression. They lapped up their first cup win in 69 years and Redknapp's name echoed around half of the 90,000 crowd. The English at Wembley were 'appy for 'Arry.

Portsmouth won the cup having played only one Premier League club, Manchester United in their six ties, and at the final hurdle they were not even troubled by one of the better ones from the Championship. Cardiff City offered a sprightly first half but their day collapsed when Kanu scored in the 37th minute and after that they were weary and well short of the quality required to save their day. Their three Scots, Kevin McNaughton and Gavin Rae who started and Steven Thompson who came off the bench near the end, were submerged in the overall disappointment.

Kanu has always given the impression of being a man who lives life at his own pace, content with the knowledge that he had the talent to bend entire football matches to his will. He sauntered around Wembley, seemingly at a fraction of the speed of everyone else, then reacted when he had to and made off with the cup. Portsmouth's John Utaka attacked McNaughton down the left and fired over a cross which shouldn't have worried anyone. But goalkeeper Peter Enckelman blocked it without either holding or clearing the ball. He merely presented it in front of Kanu at the near post and Portsmouth's big blue flamingo instantly hoisted his right leg to jab the loose ball into the net. There was a pause, as if everyone was unsure whether the goal was valid, but Kanu knew and set off in a dance with himself.

Enckelman's heart sank. The Finn was the fall guy again, just as he was when he allowed a team-mate's throw-in to trundle under his foot and into the net when playing for Aston Villa in a Birmimgham derby six years ago.

The opening goal hadn't looked like the story which would be written for Kanu yesterday. Earlier he had looked like the man who might be guilty of failing to bury Portsmouth's best chance of the match. He had shown a lovely little turn to snake away from centre-half Glenn Loovens and then shimmied again to wrong-foot Enkelman. Suddenly he was in on an unguarded goal, but the angle was tight and all Kanu could do was slip a low shot off the foot of the post and behind for a goal-kick.

As far as the new Wembley was concerned, the final didn't have much to live up to. Last year's effort between Chelsea and Manchester United was tortuous, a characteristic example of a contest between two superb but evenly-matched sides who nullified rather than inspired each other. Portstmouth-Cardiff promised the sort of imbalances which might lead to an open and attractive game. Again it never lived up to expectations.

Cardiff remain the only club to have wrestled the old trophy out of England, having beaten Arsenal in the 1927 final. From the 2008 edition, they will remember a couple of openings when Paul Parry was sent clear but didn't do anything with either of them. They will think of Roger Johnson heading a Peter Whittingham free-kick over the bar. Some might even declare themselves blind to his obvious handball and claim that Loovens' actually scored a legitimate equaliser in stoppage time at the end of the first half. They scurried around the Portsmouth penalty area near the end, more in desperation than anything else. Thompson sent a tame header wide and there would have been a charming tale if 17-year-old Aaron Ramsay had equalised, but the ball would not sit for him and he was crowded out.

Kanu would stop to tie his laces even if he was being told to rush from a burning building, so there wasn't much chance of breaking sweat when he was substituted with four minutes left and his team had a cup final lead to protect. He ambled off Wembley, having won his team the cup. By the time the stadium announcer revealed that he had been named as man of the match he was in what might be his favourite position, namely with his backside parked comfortably on a seat. It wouldn't be surprising if he was the first cup final winner in history to wonder how much energy it was going to take to lift the trophy.