James produced saves against bitter rivals Southampton to deny Papa Waigo N'Diaye, Wayne Thomas and Adam Lallana to keep the scores level at St Mary's before Pompey pulled away in the latter stages and secured a 4-1 victory.

It booked a place in the quarter-finals but the big question is whether Pompey will still be in existence by then as they will be back in the High Court fighting a winding-up petition from Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs before their next fixture in the competition.

"My instinct says it will be," said James. "I think it's too important for too many people, for football even, that a top-flight club can go out of existence.

"It's not going to be easy and whoever it is who helps us out we'll thank them now, but it's important we stay in business and important Portsmouth keep flying the flag in the Premier League for Hampshire."

James' performance is great news for Fabio Capello. The England boss has seen Ashley Cole suffer a long-term injury this week but a possible problem area looks simpler this week, with James looking close to his best form.

The 39-year-old has suffered fitness problems this season and has often sat out training sessions after matches but in the last week he has played three times.

His saves against Southampton meant Pompey stayed on level terms, then the turning point was Quincy Owusu-Abeyie, the forward on loan from Spartak Moscow, coming off the bench and opening the scoring.

Pompey boss Avram Grant said: "When I came to the club the squad was not balanced so we wanted to bring three or four more. The Premier League's embargo did not allow us to follow this programme so the only thing we could do was bring loan players who wanted to play in the Premier League but not under contract.

"Quincy is one of them and I know him from when he was at Arsenal and I followed him in Russian football.

"We know he is a player with a lot of quality. I like to develop players and get the best from them and he is a player who will be very good if we get all the potential from him."

Rickie Lambert levelled for the hosts but Aruna Dindane, Nadir Belhadj and Jamie O'Hara wrapped up the win.

"Hopefully we won't get Tottenham in the final because I wouldn't be able to play," said O'Hara, who is on loan from White Hart Lane.

"We had to give something back to the fans because it's been a bit of a dire season for us. The fans have been fantastic all season and it's good to give something back."

Saints boss Alan Pardew will take encouragement from his side's performance up until Pompey pulled away.

He will be looking to take confidence into their League One campaign as they look to overcome the blow of a points deduction for going into administration.

"The highlights were a committed performance and Lallana and Lambert showed they can take us the whole way," said the former West Ham boss.

"On that stage, with the television cameras on them and most of the nation's media watching, that they produced Premier League performances.

"We had key players missing and are a lot closer than the team that played."