FA Cup: Liverpool fan Josh Woods ready to play against the Reds for Accrington

Woods’ love of Liverpool is partly down to his dad, Dale, who used to be a steward at Anfield, while brother Connor, 26, was once part of Liverpool’s academy and now plays for Warrington Town in National League North.

Saturday will not be the first time Woods, who was brought up in Skelmersdale, west Lancashire, has stepped foot on Liverpool’s pitch.

He remembers the time he was chased off the Anfield playing surface after watching his brother play an academy game.

“I was only five, I jumped over the wall and ran on,” he laughs. “I was just running around in circles. My mum and dad were screaming at me to get off.”

Around the same time he had his picture taken with the Champions League trophy soon after Rafael Benitez’s Liverpool overcame AC Milan in a dramatic 2005 final.

Woods also recalls meeting Ian Rush, Liverpool’s record scorer with 346 goals, when he was growing up.

“I was with my mum in Liverpool and got a picture with him,” he says.

Rush’s name featured in an iconic 1980s television milk advert featuring two young Liverpool fans.

One tells the other that Rush had told him that if he didn’t drink milk, he would only be good enough to play for Accrington Stanley, who were in the Northern Premier League when the advert first aired.

The other fan asks, “Accrington Stanley, who are they?”, to which the first replies, “Exactly.”

“Yes, I’ve seen it,” says Woods about the advert. “It’s funny because each time I mention to someone I play for Accrington Stanley, they always bring that advert up.”