Daggers striker Paul Benson is close to fulfilling a boyhood dream he feared was dashed forever.

The thirty year-old used to think his chance to make it as a footballer was gone when he was a trainee accountant who had to pay to play parks football, six years ago.

“As a little kid you imagine scoring the winning goal at Wembley. But when I was 24 and still playing parks football, it seemed a million miles away”.

“There’s been plenty of times when I thought I’d never play a competitive there. If you had said I would do it, I would have thought you were mad” said Benson.

But now the 21-goal haul hitman could score there against Rotherham Utd on Sunday.

His goal-knack has been a feature of Dagenham and Redbridge’s march from non league football.

And he owes a debt to the club for signing him up in 2005, when he was toiling away in the Essex Olympian League.

He has been on every step of the journey with the club to the brink of League One.

There no worries about the infamous Wembley pitch, he said “I’m used to playing on much worse pitches from where I’m from!”

“I don’t think it will be too much of an issue. I think some top players make too much of it.

“They’re used to playing on the cream of pitches every week, and when something’s not quite right, perhaps they don’t know what to make of it.

“We certainly have players who can score and who can provide me with chances. And I’m confident enough to take them when they come”.

Victory this weekend would not only be a source of professional pride but would mean so much personally to him, he said.

“I’ve made no secret that I love playing for this club”.

“Not only because they’ve given me this chance to play professional football and I want to repay them for that, but also because I just love playing here.

“I can’t really envision enjoying playing for another club as much as I do for this one”.