A LUCKY football fan from Woodford Green will enjoy a kick-about in front of thousands of fans at Wembley this Saturday.

Gary Coulson, 39, of Broomhill Road, will step onto the hallowed turf at half-time during England’s friendly against Slovenia.

The Royal Mail driver won a competition on Alan Brazil’s breakfast show on talkSPORT radio. After texting in to qualify, he pitted his knowledge of football live on air against another contestant.

He battled through three rounds of questions and successfully answered a tie-breaker to win the right to appear in front of as many as 90,000 spectators this weekend.

Mr Coulson is a keen Arsenal fan who goes to several matches every season. He also plays five-a-side at the Academy in Loughton each week.

England will be using Saturday’s match as a warm-up before taking on Croatia the following Wednesday, which could see them secure their qualification for World Cup 2010 in South Africa with two games to spare.

Check next week’s Wanstead and Woodford Guardian to see pictures of Mr Coulson in action.