Everton FC latest: Why Gosling is grateful for Chelsea giving him a chance
The strike has already etched Gosling’s name in Goodison folklore, and forced him to shut down his Facebook account!
“I am still pinching myself a bit about that winner against Liverpool, although it’s really been about the team, not me,” he says. “Everyone in the squad’s played a massive part and hopefully that will be the case again on Saturday.
“My life did change a bit after that, though. There are always a few asking for pictures or autographs now, but that’s probably the same for all the lads really.
“I know only a few have got a winner against Liverpool to win such a massive game but I’m still the same player – still working hard. It’s great scoring the winner against anyone, but against Liverpool it was particularly great.”
That increased recognition manifested itself in the unusual fashion of a proliferation of friend requests on Facebook.
It all went a bit mad afterwards and I ended up having to delete it in the end,” says Gosling. “I had about 20 hits or so beforehand, and it got up to 600 friend requests afterwards. I didn’t want to have to go through all of them, so I just got rid of it.”
Gosling’s only previous experience of Wembley was at the old stadium 11 years ago, when as an eight-year-old he joined 19,485 other fans to watch local side Torquay United lost to Colchester United in the Division Two play-off final.
And he adds: “I’ve never even been to watch an FA Cup final. The only time I’ve been was to see Torquay against Colchester in the Division Two play-off final. There will certainly be a few more in the crowd on Saturday.
“The first FA Cup final I can remember was probably Manchester United in 1999, when they beat Newcastle 2-0 in that treble-winning year.
“And the only finals I’ve played in were as a youngster for Brixham United in the South West League. We had a good team and tended to get to the final every year.
“They were only on local pitches, no stands or anything like that.
“There was certainly nothing like the atmosphere of the semi-final, that was really something special.”
