FA Cup: Curtis Weston still playing 20 years after featuring in 2004 final

London-born Weston grew up a Manchester United fan and joined Millwall at the age of 14.

Twenty years ago he had not even made his senior debut when they booked their first FA Cup final appearance by defeating First Division rivals Sunderland 1-0 in the semi-final at Old Trafford.

Thirteen days before the final, Weston came on as a second-half substitute in the final league match of the season, a 1-0 home win over Bradford City.

He remembers the elation he felt after discovering soon after that he had made the cup final squad and would be travelling to the showpiece with the likes of Tim Cahill, Neil Harris and Wise.

“Don’t forget I was 17, a kid, and I was going to the FA Cup final,” he says. “It was a great achievement in itself to be named in the squad.

“It was only on the day of the final I was told I was going to be on the bench. I was surprised, shocked, so excited.”

Manchester United’s team that day included a 19-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo, Roy Keane, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs.

“I spent as much time as possible warming up on the side of the pitch to soak up the atmosphere, getting close to the action because Ronaldo was doing all his tricks,” recalls Weston.

United, the hot favourites, were in complete control thanks to goals by Ronaldo and Van Nistelrooy (2) when Weston’s big moment arrived.

“Dennis shouted towards Ray Wilkins [his assistant] that he was coming off and the kid should come on. So Ray called me over and told me to get ready.

“I was nervous even though there were only a few minutes left.”

As Wise came off he embraced Weston and told the youngster to “go and enjoy yourself”.

“I will never forget it,” says Weston. “I sneaked into the squad at the end of Millwall’s FA Cup journey having not played a minute of the other ties.”