England's 1966 World Cup winning hero Sir Geoff Hurst gave a Southampton Tyro League team the thrill of a lifetime by coaching them for a day - thanks to The Daily Echo.

The hat-trick hero from the famous 4-2 win over West Germany at Wembley in '66 was joined at Chamberlain Leisure Centre in Southampton by Manchester United coach Eric Harrison after St Francis Crusaders under-12s midfielder Ben Savage won an Echo competition for the fabulous prize.

A delighted Ben, who celebrates his 12th birthday today, said: "It was a great day and I loved it. I saw the competition in the Echo and decided I wanted to go for it.

"I knew Geoff Hurst had scored a hat-trick in the World Cup final and it was great to meet him.

"He told us that Eric Cantona learnt to do keep-ups as a boy and that gave him his ball control later in his career, so I am going to as well."

Sir Geoff and Harrison, who was in charge of developing the likes of David Beckham, the Neville brothers, Nicky Butt and Paul Scholes, are currently on a nationwide tour with McDonald's to promote soccer skills in the lead up to this summer's World Cup.

Hurst said: "Our aim is to give the kids a great day and coach the coaches so grassroots football can improve and kids will always have access to top class coaching from members of their own community.

"Myself and Eric can't be here to take every training session so we aim to leave behind the skills so the coaches can work like this once we have left.

"We have had a brilliant response from the public and the kids and some of the things Eric is doing with the children are no different to what I used to do when I played for West Ham."

The coach being coached in this case was John Course who has steered his side clear of relegation in division four of the under-12s Tyro League's but is now hoping for better things next season.

"It is a once in a life time experience," he said. "None of the boys were born in 66 but they have all heard of Sir Geoff Hurst and it is a tremendous experience and hopefully it will be the start of things to come and we carry forward some of the skills we were taught to next season and get better.

"We want to have a good go at the league and the cup but the main thing is they develop as a team and individuals. We are also lucky to have a generous sponsor in Bell Pope solicitors who have supported the boys."

As well as the training session, McDonald's also presented the team with footballs signed by Sir Geoff and new coaching equipment to help them along.