They did it the hard way; They defeated Shrewsbury Town, who famously eliminated Everton 12 months ago, and needed a replay and penalties to squeeze past fallen giants Sheffield Wednesday in the second round.
Scunthorpe United have been almost a permanent fixture in the basement league over the last twenty years. Alex Calvo-Garcia's goal in the 1999 play-off final against Leyton Orient was enough to launch the Iron into Division Two, but they struggled badly and lasted only a season.
Since then, they have gone well in the Third and made the play-offs, where they were foiled by Lincoln City and Simon Yeo. So far, Scunny are a dissapointing Fourteenth in the league, but they have the talent to cause an over-confifent Pompey problems. One player Pompey fans might remember is Peter Beagrie - he no longer does the flips, but he's still a very real threat for the opposition.