Hope Akpan

Saturday 2 March 2013 is a date that will be forever etched on the mind of Hope Akpan. All his life he had harboured the dream of walking up the steps at Goodison Park and out onto the pitch to the sound of Z-Cars ahead of a Premier League game.

Unfortunately for him, he had emerged from the visitors’ dressing room before the long cherished walk down the tunnel and he was in the change colours of Reading rather than the royal blue of his beloved Everton.

Nonetheless, it was an occasion he was determined to savour after having been released by Everton less than two years earlier.

“It had been a roller-coaster time for me because I went down to League Two with Crawley and then a year-and-a-half later I was in the Premier League with Reading,” Akpan explained. “It was a dream come true for me, especially when I got the chance to play against Everton at Goodison Park. It was a big occasion for me and it was a chance for me to say to Everton, ‘yes, I am good enough to play in the Premier League even though you didn’t think I would be.’

“That game gave me a great deal of satisfaction and belief in myself and I got a really warm reception from the fans. The staffwho were still there from my time at the club were also quick to congratulate me and say hello and even though the result went against us I enjoyed the occasion.”