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Young Guns

In 2004 in Cardiff's Millennium Stadium, an FA Cup record was broken that had stood for 125 years.

With three minutes to go in the 123rd Final, featuring Manchester United and Millwall, the Londoners' player-manager Dennis Wise was replaced by a young midfielder called Curtis Weston (pictured below).

Curtis, who only played in one League match that season, was 17 years and 119 days old. So he became the youngest ever player in an FA Cup Final.

The record that he beat had been established by little-known James Prinsep, who had reached 17 years and 245 days when he played for Clapham Rovers in the 1879 Final against Old Etonians at Kennington Oval.

A week later Prinsep made his one and only appearance for England - in a 5-4 win over Scotland, also at the Oval.

Both Prinsep and Weston finished on the losing side. Clapham Rovers were beaten by Charles Clerke's effort in the 65th minute and plucky Millwall were finally outclassed by United 3-0 after keeping a clean sheet for 43 minutes.

Many people still think of West Ham United's Paul Allen as the youngest Finalist after he helped the Hammers to edge Arsenal 1-0 in 1980. But, at 17 years and 256 days, he was simply the youngest at Wembley.

At the other end of the age scale, the honour of being the oldest ever finalist falls to Walter 'Billy' Hampson.

The Newcastle United player was 41 years and 257 days old when his side beat Aston Villa 2-0 in the 1924 Final.