When Antoine Semenyo was introduced for his World Cup debut as a late substitute against Portugal, there was one man back in the South West that couldn't have been prouder.
David Hockaday has been there since the beginning. From taking a lost, slightly overweight 16-year-old midfielder from London to putting him in accommodation in Swindon and eventually watching him on the grandest stage of them all.
It's a journey that has been long and arduous for Semenyo. From having doors slammed in his face as a scholar at Fulham, the Bristol City striker is now reaping his own rewards for his hard work and dedication over the last six years.
Hockaday, the former Leeds United manager who now works as Head of Football at the South Gloucestershire and Stroud College (SGS), spotted Semenyo's talent when nobody else believed in him. Even Semenyo had lost some belief in himself that his promising football career was slowly falling by the wayside - his unique talent going to waste.
"I think being a coach, especially of young players is one of the most rewarding things you can do," Hockaday told Bristol Live. "It's like planting a seed and then seeing it grow and flourish. And you nourish it along the way.
"But to see it grow and to think of me seeing this young guy playing out position - to where it has led to now, I can't be more proud. And I get quite emotional when I think about it.
"Every time one of the players reaches another little landmark, it just adds to the pride and puts another big smile on my face. I'm incredibly passionate about what I do. And Antoine is in many, many reasons that I do what I do."
The significance of Semenyo and Hockaday's relationship is impossible to put into words. It all started at a training day at Bisham Abbey when a number of coaches were in attendance to cast an eye on other players they were given the heads up about.
"You know, if I'd have said to him however many years ago that you'd end up playing in the World Cup, he'd probably think I was mad," he adds. "For whatever reason, he stuck in my head when he was playing midfield. He was a little bit overweight. He just had a couple of moments. I call him an itch. It was like an itch that I couldn't forget.
"The coaches over the course of the day met up and talked and Antoine's name didn't come up. Sure I got in touch with Antoine and kept in touch and found out about him and his family, which is massively important to him.
"His history is that he was at Fulham. He didn't study as hard as he should have, thinking he was going to get a scholarship and he didn't.
"Then he went round to a few trials and went to a few pro clubs. And nobody took him, nobody saw that potential, which is fine. That's tough, you know, for young guys to be told, 'no, no, no, no', doors slammed in your face - that affects you.
"Lives like that get lost. He needed to be found. When he first met me I think he needed somebody to believe in him."
Hockaday had planned to start his own academy and bring Semenyo with him until the opportunity arose to coach at the SGS.
"What we did was he studied in Swindon, but every almost Saturday morning, I'd pick him up from where I'd got him accommodation and bring him to Bristol. We played in Southwest County's Youth League on a Saturday morning.
"We had a pre-season and we played five pro teams including Bristol City, and I'm thinking that we beat them all. And Antoine was just again unplayable.
"(Ex-City CEO) Mark Ashton had heard through the grapevine that I had a player and I'd worked with Mark as first-team coach at Watford. So he basically made the decision that Antoine wasn't to leave the building without signing for City because every pro team that we played wanted to sign him.
"Bristol City came in and obviously we're in Bristol, we had very strong links with City anyway. So it became a formality that he signed for City."
At the age of 17, Semenyo joined the Reds on a two-year deal and in his first appearance, scored a brace as City's Under-18s beat Hull in the Professional Development League.
Just over five years on, Semenyo will be hoping to make his sixth Ghana cap in their 2010 reunion with Uruguay knowing a draw with all but see them qualify for the knockout stages. Hockaday still keeps in regular contact with the forward and despite his meteoric rise, says he has remained as humble since the first day they met.
He added: "His family give both of the boys (brother Jai playing at Cardiff) such great level-headedness, and it's such a foundation on which to build.
"Antoine is a lovely guy, all of the family are lovely people, and I, you know, I'm sincere in that they, they are people that you wish well for.
"If he has any spare time when he's in Bristol he comes to the SGS. A lot of boys stay in contact with him through social media. A lot of boys personally take an interest in them, which is just a credit to him.
"With Antoine, there was a beautiful naivety in him early on. But as he's grown, physically and emotionally, technically, tactically, all of this, he hasn't lost that niceness. And people will say, 'Oh, nice is a bad word'. It's not. If you're a decent human being then I think you'll go a long way.
"He has humility and at SGS we work on hunger and belief, that's our motto. He had the hunger but did he truly believe? I'm not so sure. I think for that they need somebody to believe in them first. And I believed in him, and that belief has come to bear fruit.
"He started to believe so now when I talk to him, there's an assuredness. There's a professional footballer at the end of my conversation. So he talks like a pro and he thinks like a pro and there's a ring of steel inside him. And there's a belief that he can go on and do more work.
"Because of his character and because of his genetics, because of everything that makes him Antoine, I still believe that he hasn't reached his full potential by a distance. And we're talking about a young guy who was a squad player in the World Cup. Wow, I still think he's got a hell of a lot more to give.
"Antoine has made all of us at SGS, me as well. Very, very proud. And he's scratching the tip of the iceberg because there's more to come."
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