WINTER WONDERLAND

Cherries star makes dream first start as FA Cup magic is alive & kicking in Winterburn household!

- STEVE JUDGE

TRY telling Ben Winterburn the magic of the FA Cup is being eroded by managers resting players.

The 20-year-old midfielder impressed on his first start for Bournemouth, having made his Premier League debut off the bench at Fulham last month.

Winterburn was one of six changes made by Andoni Iraola - who has lost Evanilson and Enes Unal, among others, to injury, while midfielder Philip Billing completed a loan move to Napoli on Saturday.

While the academy product felt he might start due to the players missing, it was not until 1.20 pm on Saturday that he was able to quickly text his family to tell them his Cherries dream was about to come true.

Winterburn said: "I found out I was playing when I saw the teamsheet about an hour and 40 minutes before the game. I felt quite sick sitting there and there was probably a lot of what the manager was saying that was going in one ear and straight out of the other.