Subzero in High Wycombe and Portsmouth supporters sang to stay warm in a packed away end.

First with irony about going to Wembley. Then they bounced around and swore about the temperature. Then they taunted their own team for failing to muster a shot before skidding out of the FA Cup.

Que sera, the Chimes have changed for Pompey since they lifted the trophy in 2008 and were runners-up two years later, before financial crisis sped the club to the brink of extinction.

‘Reaching the final in 2010, we had entered administration and were relegated but the FA Cup gave us moments of joy. We put a few demons to rest. We beat our red-and-white striped neighbours from up the road for one and beat Harry Redknapp’s Spurs after he left us for them.’

At Wigan Athletic they would say the same. Winning the FA Cup in 2013 was coupled with relegation three days later, and a decade of turmoil since. Yet it is the club’s defining glory and emotions revolve around the same word.

Portsmouth’s tepid FA Cup exit gave the club’s fans pause to reminisce about their prior glories in the competition 

The club won the FA Cup in 2008 before reaching the final in a losing effort two years later

In the years since, Pompey have endured a number of setbacks but now find themselves back in the Championship

‘Utter joy,’ as Shaun Maloney puts it. It was from Maloney’s corner that Ben Watson headed in a famous 91st-minute winning goal in that final against Manchester City and he is now the club’s manager. ‘That’s the happiest I’ve been on a football pitch. We were such big underdogs and the joy that comes with that.

‘In Scotland I’ve won leagues and cups but when you’re at Celtic or Rangers a big part of that is relief because your biggest rivals are not winning that trophy.

‘This for Wigan was just utter joy. In terms of what happened three days later, the FA Cup meant we played more games when we were struggling with injuries, but I would never swap it.’

Priorities have changed for Maloney, who takes Wigan to Mansfield in a postponed third-round tie on Tuesday, and for Portsmouth.

Both clubs – this century’s only two genuine underdog winners of the FA Cup – have found their feet again under solid ownership. Hopefully, their crises are over, but they have eyes on different targets.

It has been a long haul for Portsmouth back to the Championship and vital they stay up to develop. They will also see Southampton coming down and have an eye on derbies if they beat the drop.

Most will understand why their boss John Mousinho made nine changes at Wycombe, after going full strength at Chesterfield in last season’s FA Cup and losing players to an ACL injury and a torn hamstring.

The Championship schedule is brutal with 46 games crammed around enforced international breaks. The trip to Blackburn on Wednesday will be a fifth out of six away from home for Portsmouth.

Pompey boss John Mousinho fielded a rotated side for their third-round tie with ensuring Championship survival a clear priority

Shaun Maloney netted as Wigan produced a historic upset against Man City in 2013’s final

The Scotsman is now in charge of the Latics and admits his heroics more than a decade ago have helped keep him in the fans’ good graces

So many from the second tier are gambling with wholesale changes in the cup competitions and effectively surrendering. We saw it in the Carabao Cup. Now, in the FA Cup.

Sometimes, a pathway clears as it did for semi-finalists Coventry City last season but Premier League clubs have the squad power to rest players and stay competitive against lower-tier opposition, and it rarely works in reverse.

West Bromwich made seven changes and leaked five at Bournemouth. Watford made seven and lost 4-1 at Fulham. QPR made six and let in six at Leicester. Norwich made five and conceded four at home against Brighton.

Chris Wilder made it clear changes were in store for Sheffield United against Cardiff and this combined with a switch to Thursday night to satisfy BBC Wales, awful conditions and the distance for away fans, convinced just 6,126 to turn up at Bramall Lane to watch.

There were more than 29,000 to see Blades beat West Brom in their previous home fixture. This anomaly aside, attendances bore up well to the distorted schedule with strong away support in the three ties I attended.

Pompey sold out an allocation of 1,500 at Wycombe. Watford took more than 4,000 to Fulham. Sheffield Wednesday almost 5,000 to Coventry despite the teams playing each other six times in little more than a year. Both Frank Lampard and Danny Rohl were happy to settle it on penalties, neither wanted a replay.

Managers are not judged on FA Cup success, and yet the matchgoing fans still adore the competition and its traditions including replays because it forges lasting heroes. Coventry’s triumph in 1987 and Sheffield Wednesday’s Wembley marathons in 1993 are among the prime examples.

Maloney admits his contributions in 2013, scoring against Millwall in the semi-final and his assist in the final, have probably bought him a little extra patience from Wigan supporters during difficult times as manager.

Five of the Premier League’s 20 teams have never won the FA Cup. Another nine have not won it for at least 30 years. Some of those clear of relegation worries, might fancy their chances. For any of them, history beckons.