Despite that positive mindset however, early on, it appeared as though Ipswich’s galaxy of stars would prove too much for Power and Co.
The Tractor Boys threatened to trundle over City with Alan Brazil (twice) and Eric Gates spurning glorious chances while Hutchison cleared a goal bound Beattie header off the line with the England defender – on what was to prove his last Ipswich appearance due to a career-ending knee injury - then seeing another effort arrow inches wide.
Gradually though City began to draw the sting out of the Ipswich tail with both Power and Gow going close for City before referee Pat Partridge signalled the end of 90 minutes – and the onset of extra time.
While many of the Ipswich players looked drained - both physically and mentally -as their push for a treble began to tell on weary limbs and exhausted minds, City only grew in stature and confidence.
And Power reveals how one brief exchange as the sides prepared to lock horns again for another 30 minutes of action fuelled him with added belief that it would be our day.
“After 90 minutes Ipswich's Eric Gates walked off with his boots under his arm and I said to him: ‘There is extra time now, Eric,’ and he said: ‘Well if there is you can have it’, so I thought ‘I hope the rest of your teammates think the same!’
“We were all buzzing to get to extra time.”
With a second wind in our collective tails City attacked Villa Park’s famous Holte End which was spilt half and half with thousands of City and Ipswich fans for the first period.
As 100 minutes ticked by on the clock, City were awarded an indirect free-kick on the edge of the Ipswich box after Terry Butcher was ruled to have fouled Dave Bennett.
What happened next would subsequently become the stuff of City folklore.
And the memory of that moment in time still burns brightly in Power’s mind 40 years on, the skipper drilling a quite stunning 25-yard left foot effort past Cooper’s despairing dive into the top corner to spark a rapturous Villa Park rhapsody in Blue.
Yet but for a quirk of fate, Power wouldn’t have taken that wonderful shot at glory.
“We might have been fortunate with the goal. I don’t think many refs would give the free-kick but thankfully he looked kindly on us that day,” Paul chuckles today.
“Funnily enough, I never used to take free-kicks.
“When the free-kick came, the way we planned it was that I would knock the ball to Steve MacKenzie, who would stop and then when an Ipswich player came off the end of the wall, I would pass it to Tommy Caton who would hit it in on goal.
“But I played the ball to Steve and no-one came off the wall.
“I remember that when I played with Brian Kidd at City, he always said ‘If you don’t buy a raffle ticket you won’t win a prize’, so I thought ‘Here we go, I’m going to buy a raffle ticket!’
“The Ipswich ‘keeper Paul Cooper was quite small really and it was just in a nice position to bend it round the wall, so it was one of the better decisions I made in my career!
“It was such a wonderful moment.
“I still remember it so well. After I struck it, I ran over towards our supporters in the Holte End at Villa Park and I can remember everyone going up in the air and the whole stand was just alive.
“It was a fantastic feeling, then all the players surrounded you and we knew. We were a fit team, we knew they would struggle to come back and that’s how it proved.
“The prize was a trip to Wembley in the 100th FA Cup final. I can tell you we were all on a high on the bus on the way back from Villa Park.”
Though Cup final glory would ultimately elude us against Spurs after a heart-breaking 3-2 loss in a replay, Paul admits the thrill of scoring such a spectacular and dramatic winner in an FA Cup semi-final is still writ large in his own personal memory bank.
“Without a doubt Villa Park ’81 was a very special day in my career,” Paul reflects today.
“I always remember my dad talking about the late, great Roy Clark.
“He scored a headed goal in a Cup semi-final for the Club before my era at City, and Roy later became the steward of the social club attached to Maine Road and we would always have lunch there.
“If he hadn’t had scored that goal a lot of people wouldn’t have realised that he was a big part of Manchester City’s history.
“I feel the same. That Paul Power will be remembered because of that goal at Villa Park and then leading the team out at Wembley for the 1981 FA Cup final.
“I would have loved to have been lifted on the shoulders of the players like Tony Book did in 1969 but it wasn’t to be, but it was good to be remembered for doing something specific for the good of Manchester City.”
The tale of our two titanic and ultimately unsuccessful final clashes against Spurs is of course a story worthy of its own which will be revisited later this season.
But nothing can ever take away Power’s pride and pleasure at his semi-final heroics that special April day.
Let’s hope one of Pep Guardiola’s heroes of 2021 has that same spine-tingling feeling come Saturday night!