Express & Star

Liam Gordon is up for the FA Cup as he prepares to live his boyhood dream

Liam Gordon is delighted to be in the fourth round of the FA Cup.

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It is a competition he admired as a boy when he harboured ambitions to become involved in the competition as a player.

The 23-year-old London born defender – in common with many youngsters – used to look forward to watching the final when he was growing up.

This is the furthest he has been in the competition as a player but to put it in perspective, as documented before, he is happy to be playing professional football at all.

Gordon, who signed for Walsall in May last year after being released from Bolton, suffered a freak foot injury that could have seen him retire from football or worse, have an amputation.

It curtailed his career with the Saddlers and he didn’t make a first-team-appearance until September when he played against Cheltenham Town in the Papa John’s Trophy.

He is happy to have put that behind him and is enjoying an extended run in the team with some good performances but admits he is looking forward to the FA Cup tie.

Gordon said: “This is the biggest cup competition of all and I have watched it and followed it since I was young, now I am getting to play in it.

“It is the furthest I have been and I feel like we have come through a lot of challenges as a team just to get to this stage.

“From beating Wycombe away in the first round when we were playing higher opposition, to coming back and beating Carlisle, those were two excellent wins.

“Then to go to Stockport and again get the last-minute winner was really great when a lot of people thought the home side were the favourites for the game.

“We were still celebrating the victory when the draw for the next round was made and to draw a Premier League team at home was all we could hope for.”

Gordon said he is enjoying his injury free spell and run in the team but is aware of the healthy competition for places.

He said: “After what I went through I am just happy to be playing regularly and I feel my form has been good in common with the team, though of course that is for the manager to decide.

“The preparation for Leicester won’t be any different to what we do for league games, but obviously the game will have quite a bit of attention around it.

“I am just looking forward to being involved in it because it was a childhood ambition to play football and especially in big game and this will probably be my biggest.”