As the Wembley related songs started to chime around the ground, Pompey raced into a two goal lead courtesy of Jermain Defoe. His first goal was a nicely taken penalty after Baros' cross hit David Murphy's arm and he netted his second just minutes later after Maik Taylor found Muntari's long range shot too hard to handle and the ball dropped to Baros who generously squared the ball for Defoe to score.
But just as the "Easeh" chants began to ring around Fratton Park, Birmingham had pulled one back after Sebastian Larsson's corner wasn't defended properly and Fabrice Muamba was left to fire home from close range.
Despite that setback it was us that continued to carve out the best opportunities with the returning Pedro Mendes and the impressive Sulley Muntari and Niko Kranjcar running the show in midfield. In the meantime Birmingham's Zarate was booked for a pathetic dive in the box whilst Damien Johnson was lucky to get away with a late challenge on Mendes.
Pompey were then made to pay for not taking their chances as after a contentious decision outside the box, Larsson curled in an impressive free kick into the bottom corner of the net to level the score. So despite almost dominating the first half we went in level thanks to being caught out by two set-pieces.
The second half started with Pompey re-taking the lead after some more woeful defending from the visitors allowed Hermann Hreidarsson to pounce in the box.
Although we failed to build on that goal and Alex McCleish's side had a spell of possession for about 15-20 minutes where nobody in a blue shirt could keep hold of the ball to the crowd's frustration, with Papa Bouba Diop on the receiving end of some ironic cheers when completing a simple pass - disappointing to hear.)
Diop was eventually subbed for Diarra and Kanu was also introduced for Baros as Pompey began to regain some control of the ball. Saying that, it was Birmingham still in the ascendancy and James produced a great save to deny Cameron Jerome.
The strugglers continued to pile forward in search of an equaliser but Pompey put the game to bed with a trademark counter-attack suckerpunch as Mendes had plenty of space to whip in a cross for Kanu to head in and seal the points for Portsmouth.
It's been a good week for us hasn't it! Wembley bound and 7th in the league with the opportunity to go 6th if we can beat Villa on Saturday after their 1-1 draw with Middlesbrough at home. Defoe is on fire with 5 goals in 5 games whilst we still played well in a difficult game despite resting a couple of players.
Good times indeed, it just makes you wonder if something bad is going to happen to bring us back down to earth...
Pompey Player Ratings
David James: 7 - Stunning save to deny Jerome as well as some smart takes.
Glen Johnson: 6 - Good going forward but not so much when defending.
Sol Campbell: 8 - Strong and won almost everything.
Sylvain Distin: 7 - Consistent.
Hermann Hreidarsson: 8 - Solid at the back and scored.
Papa Bouba Diop: 6 - Very average but didn't deserve some of the stick he got.
Sulley Muntari: 7 - Impressive showing.
Pedro Mendes: 7 - Controlled the game in the first half with his passing.
Milan Baros: 7 - Worked really hard and assisted with the first two goals.
Jermain Defoe: 8 - Scoring for fun at the moment.
Substitutes
Jamie Ashdown
Lauren: N/A - Late sub.
Lassana Diarra: 6 - Didn't have a great influence.
John Utaka
Kanu: 7 - Did his job well and got on the scoresheet.