MATT Oakley reflected on his first goal for almost two years and confessed: "It was a dream come true."

Oakley netted on his first-ever Saints appearance against Pompey with a superb strike from outside the penalty area.

It came on only his fourth start since a knee injury sidelined him for over a year in September 2003.

Oakley was playing after manager Harry Redknapp rested his son Jamie because he did not feel the latter could manage three games in a week.

Oakley was taken off at half-time in a reserve match at Watford last week to ensure he could feature against Pompey.

It was the midfielder's first goal since a double-blast at Millwall in an FA Cup fourth round replay at The New Den in February 2003.

His only other goal since the start of the 2001/02 campaign was at St Mary's against Derby in May 2002.

Despite being one of the club's longest serving players, he has never featured against Portsmouth and he admitted that Saturday's victory ranked as one of his sweetest moments in football.

He said: "I thought for a while that in years to come I would be known as the longest-serving player never to have played against Portsmouth, but thankfully that has changed and we have come away with a great win.

"In my time in football scoring in this game is definitely right up there.

"The Cup Final was obviously the biggest occasion but today was my first game against Portsmouth and scoring is going to be a great memory.

"There are a lot of players that hear about the rivalry and it takes them a little while to understand it.

"But I have been here 12 years and I know how important it is, to to come back and score was a bit of a dream come true.

"It was a strange game and the penalty at the end was a fitting way for it to finish with Harry, Jim and Kevin having come from Portsmouth so recently and Peter Crouch scoring the winning goal.

"It was strange because the linesman gave it and there must have been five minutes between the incident and the decision being made.

"But Peter was the first to hear that the penalty was given and he wasted no time in grabbing the ball!"

Saints' fans have not had much to cheer about this season and Oakley added: "It hasn't been a particularly great season so far so hopefully this is something that will put a smile on the supporters' faces.

"We are not going to do anything great in the league this season ... but the cup is a chance where the fans can get a bit of joy.

"We have been to one Cup Final recently so there is no reason why we cannot do that again.

"It certainly gives us something else to play for."