The skipper though revealed some slight hesitation prior to collecting the cup: “I didn’t really know what to do,” he said.
“I asked what I’d have to do and they said just go up there and lift the trophy you don’t have to wait for everybody else, it’s the FA Youth Cup and that’s how you do it.”
So what about the presentation experience itself? “It was everything I thought it would be like. It was unbelievable and a great experience. I’ll remember it forever.
“It was great playing in front of all those fans, chanting and singing throughout the game, they were magnificent and kept our spirits up.
“It was good for the lads to get that winning mentality and Sven-Goran Eriksson came into the dressing room afterwards and said to us; ‘Keep it up and bring that winning mentality to Carrington.’ Hopefully we’ll do that.”
But it was a fighting spirit that the young Blues had shown throughout the competition that ultimately led to the side being crowned cup kings.
As Ben continued: “I knew we had a lot of character in our team and we’ve shown before that we can come from a goal down.
“In the first round against Millwall we did that and bagged five. I knew the team spirit was there to come back and score a few goals and we did that.”
And of course it was an equaliser from the captain himself, which brought City back into the match after 24 minutes, and he concluded by describing his crucial header.
“It was a great ball from Andrew Tutte. I thought he was going to put it in earlier and he took another touch passed the defender to whip a great ball in and I couldn’t really miss.
“It was a great feeling to score in front of 20,000 people.”
