South Devon's star footballer Ollie Watkins fires England into Euro 24 final
Former Newton Abbot schoolboy grabs late winner to seal semi-final victory against the Netherlands
South Devon's soccer superstar Ollie Watkins was the toast of the nation tonight after firing England into the final of the European Championship.
The former Newton Abbot schoolboy struck a last-gasp winner to seal a 2-1 victory for the Three Lions against the Netherlands in a tense semi-final in Dortmund.
Ollie struck at the death to send England to their second successive European Championship final as Gareth Southgate’s side dug deep.
Now all eyes of the nation will be on Sunday's Berlin showpiece and final against favourites Spain. One of the big questions is will super sub Watkins start the game?
Harry Kane’s spot-kick cancelled out a superb Xavi Simons opener before Watkins came off the bench and wrote his name into the history books with his 90th minute winner.
No English men’s team has made it to a major final on foreign soil before.
Euro 24 glory is a far cry for Ollie and his days as a boy footballer with the likes of the Newton Town and Buckland Athletic youth teams.
Ollie was born in Torbay Hospital. He and his family lived in the Newton Abbot area and he went to Abbotsbury and then Decoy primary school and on to South Dartmoor College.
His coaches could see he had potential even as a young boy aged nine in 2003 so he was put forward for a trial to get into Exeter City's Youth Academy - only to fail!
But he went back and was successful a year later
Ollie joined the city academy at under-11 level. He rose through the youth ranks to sign a two-year professional contract in 2014.
It wasn't all plain sailing and at one time Ollie found himself with best friend Matt on loan to Conference South club Weston-super-Mare.
But it wasn't long before Ollie was back at Exeter, establishing himself in the first team and attracting the attention of the bigger clubs.
In 2017, he joined Brentford and three years later signed for Premiership giants Aston Villa in a club-record £28 million deal.
One of the proudest people in South Devon tonight will be his mum Delsi May, who is well-known locally as professional singer Ruby Washington