He deserves a Pacquette for putting kids on the right path

Yet while flights of fancy will fill his heart as the Havant team coach leaves Hampshire this morning on the journey of a football lifetime to Liverpool, stopping on the way for a training session at Manchester United's indoor complex at The Cliff, it is Pacquette's day job which makes a difference in reality.

Scroll down to read more

In a league of his own: Pacquette at his school in Neasden

As a school standards officer, the 24-year-old's duty is to patrol the corridors and corners of Neasden's John Kelly Boys School to make sure pupils are in lessons rather than playing truant, bullying or taking drugs that ruin so many young lives when they have hardly begun.

To others it would be just a job, but Pacquette feels a responsibility to offer advice and hope. As for reinforcing those principles, well, an FA Cup run like Havant & Waterlooville's works wonders.

The day after their third round replay win over Swansea, Pacquette drove to the school with fellow striker Rocky Baptiste. Their car was mobbed by delirious pupils as it turned into the drive.

"It's been madness since then," he laughed. "My job is to patrol the building and make sure the kids are doing lessons, not bunking off. I ask them where they should be, hurry them up and make sure they go back to lessons on time.

"It's quite a new thing for schools in the borough. They try to get youth workers in to educate the kids a bit and keep them away from the streets. I try to talk to the kids. Neasden's quite rough and they can easily get distracted, so I tell them there is always hope to do something.

"I do a bit of coaching, too. I take the sixth formers for football after school. I enjoy it. The kids look up to me and the teachers have been really supportive. A few of them came to Swansea, quite a lot to the home game and 20 of them will be coming to Liverpool. They know my desire to get back into full-time football."

The hope that Pacquette instils in pupils is evident when you meet him. After all, his own career was disappearing into oblivion.

At 13 he was in QPR's youth team with DJ Campbell, now at Leicester, whose own FA Cup heroics with Yeading three seasons ago got him back into the professional game. Pacquette made his QPR debut at 18 in a Championship game against Huddersfield. His partner in attack was Peter Crouch, opposite him tomorrow for Liverpool.

He played in the League One play-off final loss to Cardiff at the Millennium Stadium in 2005 but slowly drifted out of favour. After signing on a non-contract basis with MK Dons, then Brentford, he dropped into non-league with Farnborough and next Hampton & Richmond — all four clubs in the same season.

"When I left QPR, I had offers from some Conference sides who were full-time. When I look back, I maybe should have taken that and started from there. But I was a bit naive. I just wanted to stay in the league. That's why I took a chance on going to MK Dons and Brentford.

"During the time I was moving around here, there and everywhere, I lost my fitness because I wasn't training every day. That affected my performance when I did play.

"I sat down with my agent and he said, 'Right, this summer you just have to go somewhere and play a whole season'. That's been proved right.

"I signed with Worthing and since then I've been scoring every season and doing well. So hopefully all my hard work will pay off. I never give up anyway. I believe that if you work hard, you will get there.

"I've matured as a player. As a forward you've got to work hard off the ball as well as on it. As I've got older, I've learned that. I feel I'm a better player now and I'm ready to make that step back up again to full-time football.

"DJ's a mate. What he's done in coming out from a pro club into non-league and going back again inspires me and drives me more because I know what I'm capable of.

"The FA Cup has helped a lot of us non-league players by being giant-killers and performing on the big stage. It's opened the shop window for us."

Liverpool winger Jermaine Pennant is another friend from youth team football. The pair see each other every summer as part of a group of players who work on their pre-season fitness in London by meeting up for five-a-side games.

"I didn't think we'd be playing each other in the fourth round of the Cup, but whenever they see me, they always ask how I'm doing and tell me just to keep at it, keep working hard and hopefully it will come.

"Anfield will be great. It's every kid's dream. There are big players in the Liverpool team but everyone's human, so anything could happen."

Pacquette turns 25 on Monday. The fifth round draw will probably be an irrelevance for Havant by then, but the words of wisdom Pacquette imparts at school will carry greater weight than ever.