Giantkiller Distain wary of being slain

PORTSMOUTH defender Sylvain Distin is firmly on his guard against an upset in the FA Cup final, having played his part in a similar one earlier in his career.

Back in 2000, Distin played for Ligue 2 side Gueugnon who claimed a shock 2-0 victory over Paris St Germain in the French League Cup final.

And the 30-year-old centre-back, who has not won a major honour after seven years in English football with Newcastle and Manchester City before his free transfer move to Pompey, has warned his team-mates they must improve dramatically on their poor end-of-season run.

“It was a bit like Cardiff against Portsmouth or maybe Cardiff v. Manchester United,” he said.

“So I have to hope that Cardiff won’t have the same spirit Gueugnon had then, yet I know they will.

“It is an opportunity for them to prove everybody wrong because everybody thinks we are going to win.

“But we’ve got to perform, not like the last month in the league. If we carry on like that on Saturday it will make it even harder than it is going to be.

“We need a good reaction but the way we’ve been playing has had nothing to do with thinking about Cardiff or Wembley too much. We just haven’t performed.”