PORTSMOUTH stars rallied around devastated Kevin-Prince Boateng after his penalty howler blew their chances of Wembley glory.

The gutted Ghana international left the stadium still in tears, refusing to talk to anybody after his awful miss from the spot in Pompey’s FA Cup final defeat to Chelsea.

If Boateng had put away the 57th-minute spot-kick the 8/1 outsiders could have been on course to lift the famous trophy for a second time in three years.

But after the 1-0 defeat ensured a dreadful end to a dreadful season for Avram Grant’s relegated men, Boateng’s team-mates refused to point the finger of blame at him.

Jamie O’Hara led the chorus of support for one-time Spurs midfielder Boateng, saying: “Kevin is absolutely heartbroken. And it’s not surprising.

“It’s such a shame for the lad because he’s a top bloke. But he now has to put this behind him, pick himself up and go again. He has the World Cup to look forward to with Ghana in a few weeks so it’s not all bad.”

Midfielder Michael Brown said they had been lucky to get to half-time still on level terms but admitted Boateng’s missed penalty eventually cost them.

“We rode our luck in the first half and we knew we had to do that,” he said. “We knew at half-time when they didn’t score we would get a chance and the penalty was a massive break for us but it was not to be and Kevin is distraught.

“It’s as if he’s hanged himself in there. But you can’t blame him, because at least he had the guts to take it.

“If we’d scored the penalty maybe we would have been able to hang on for a 1-0 win. But it obviously wasn’t meant to be for us today. It’s sad for the fans who were tremendous again but nobody can deny Chelsea were very worthy winners.”

French striker Frederic Piquionne added: “We have all tried to offer some words to Kevin – but what can you say to the man? He’s very upset and no matter what we say I can’t imagine he’ll be able to put this penalty out of his head for the rest of today – and maybe even longer.

“I think the whole game changed with that penalty. If we’d scored we might well have won but Chelsea went up the other end and took the lead. But we can all be proud – even on a sad day like this.”