AN Oldham footballer has relived the moment he got to rub shoulders with some of the Premier League’s finest players during one of the most talked-about FA Cup matches for years.

Josh Hmami, 20, plays for non-leaguers Marine AFC, whose historic cup run in this season’s competition saw them reach the Third Round where they took on Tottenham Hotspur in a televised clash on Sunday.

Merseyside-based Marine were only the second club in history from the eighth tier of the league pyramid to get so far in the competition and the gap between them and Spurs was the largest ever seen in the competition.

The Oldham Times: Marine's Josh Hmami (left) and Tottenham Hotspur's Moussa Sissoko battle for the ball during the Emirates FA Cup third round match at Rossett Park, Crosby.

Josh Hmami (left) and Tottenham Hotspur’s Moussa Sissoko battle for the ball

The North London giants brought Marine’s magnificent FA Cup adventure to an end with a 5-0 victory at Rossett Park, but for Hmami and his team-mates it is a match they will never forget.

“Right up until the day of the game it was still sinking in that we were playing Tottenham,” said the attacking midfielder, who began his career as a youngster with Bolton Wanderers’ Academy, before crossing the Pennines, where he spent a season with Barnsley’s U16 squad.

“We’re used to playing the likes of Prescot Cables and here we were playing a Premier League side with loads of internationals.

The Oldham Times: Tottenham Hotspur's Harvey White tackles Marine's Josh Hmami during the Emirates FA Cup third round match at Rossett Park, Crosby.

Marine’s Josh Hmami clashes with Spurs’ Harvey White during Sunday’s FA Cup tie

“It was surreal but now it is done it is something I will look back on very fondly.”

After Barnsley, Josh headed back to Lancashire, where a two-year scholarship with Accrington Stanley saw him go on to become the captain of the U18s.

Training regularly with the first team and featuring in several behind-closed-doors friendlies, his senior debut came in December 2017 against Grimsby Town.

Despite having played in the Football League, Josh admits he was nervous before the kick-off against Spurs.

“There was no real pressure on us because we were the underdogs coming up against a world-class side,” he said. “But when we were driving in on the coach and saw hundreds of people outside the ground cheering us on we realised we wanted to do everyone proud.

“Regardless of the scoreline I think we made all the fans and everyone in Crosby proud and hopefully we can now build on this and get promotion.”

Marine impressed for the first 20 minutes of the game and almost took the lead when Neil Kengni hit the bar before Carlos Vinícius opened the scoring en route to a hat-trick.

“We had a game plan and for the first 20 minutes it worked,” said Josh. “They always had that quality to cut us open though and if we switched off for a second we were punished.

“The main thing you see at that level is how clinical they are. They had a half chance and they put it away and it took us out of the game, but you can’t fault the effort of the lads against that sort of opposition.”

The Tottenham side included stars like Moussa Sissoko and Dele Ali, with Spurs also able to call on the talents of former Real Madrid winger Gareth Bale, who came on as a second-half substitute.

Spurs manager Jose Mourinho spoke warmly after the game about the experience as did many of the Premier League side’s players who made sure their opponents received a set of shirts as a memory of the day.

Josh said: “We couldn’t get their actual matchday shirt because of Covid-19 rules but they left us a bag of spare kit.”