Pompey have had four owners this season, Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs have lodged a winding-up petition against them and their staff have not been paid on time - but remarkably they are heading to Wembley after Frederic Piquionne's goals helped defeat Birmingham 2-0.

Grant, following his lap of honour after the final whistle, said: "Football is more than football. All these people are so happy.

"You can break many things but you cannot break our spirit. The spirit of the players and fans was high. Other people maybe thought we would break but nobody can break our spirit.

"I'm very proud, when you see players of the age of Hermann Hreidarsson and David James giving their heart for the team. It's important for the spirit of football."

Grant insisted taking the Barclays Premier League's bottom club to Wembley was as satisfying as reaching the Champions League final with Chelsea.

"There are some moments in your life you always remember and this is one of them," he said. "I was in the Champions League final and was happy, this is the same."

Victory earns Pompey £600,000 in prize money and broadcasting fees, but Grant added: "This is the last thing I care about now. We don't know what will happen in the next hour or day.

"One thing we can do is keep the spirit of the team, try to play good football in the right style with the right tactics and tell everyone we will respect any rule.

"I always say to respect rules but rules also need to be logical. This club deserves more than anyone to be at Wembley because the players and fans are victims of things done by others. I will say it again and again until someone listens."

After a dull first hour, Piquionne opened the scoring in the 67th minute when he prodded home after Scott Dann had collided with Birmingham goalkeeper Joe Hart.

The Frenchman's second goal came after twisting and turning past Roger Johnson three minutes later.

Liam Ridgewell should have been awarded a goal when his header crossed the line, but the assistant referee failed to spot it.

Goalkeeper David James said: "Maybe we can debate that on the way home but we won 2-0 as far as the score goes and I think we deserved it. Happy days."

Grant believes his team deserves a bit of luck after their season of turmoil.

"With this season, with all the problems we have had, we have had 10 very important decisions against us," said the Pompey boss. "It has cost us over 10 points."

Birmingham boss Alex McLeish refused to make excuses for the defeat but felt his side would have been in the driving seat for a replay if Ridgewell's goal had stood.

"We should have had a lifeline with a perfectly legitimate goal but unfortunately it wasn't to be," he said. "It would have given us a lifeline and I wouldn't bet against my team coming back if we got that goal. They've done that this season.

"You would expect an official at this level to see that. They do the fitness tests and part of that is the vision side of things. It's a shame the guy missed that, I'm sure he will be hurting about it.

"I don't see how he could be obscured because he was over the line. Nobody was over the line so he should have been on that corner flag. James actually landed and caught it behind the line."

The incident came minutes after FIFA announced they would not be pursuing goal-line technology.

"My stance has always been that they should," McLeish said. "That is a frustrating decision by FIFA because I think they are doing their officials a disservice.

"It's not easy for their guys to see it in a split second. We feel he should have seen that but in a split second, you see offside decisions (given).

"I know you can't stop every part of the game but certainly for key decisions in a major competition like the FA Cup, your chances of getting to semi-finals and finals are few and far between for a little club like us."