'I was due one!' - Ben Davies on breaking his goalscoring duck

Ioan Gruffudd has been a guest of Ben Davies in recent matches at the Lane - and the defender delivered a storyline the Welsh actor would have proud of against Aston Villa.

Famed for his role in BBC series ‘Hornblower’, Gruffudd proudly watched his compatriot score his first goal for Spurs in his 68th appearance to pave the way for a 2-0 win in the third round of the FA Cup.

Ben broke his duck and with it, Villa’s resistance. We’d dominated throughout but clear-cut chances were hard to find until Ben popped up with a header on 71 minutes. Heung-Min Son added the second 10 minutes later and we were in the fourth round draw.

Thank you to this young Welsh Legend @18bendavies for a fantastic night at the Lane on Wednesday! Diolch o galon boi! What an atmosphere! pic.twitter.com/k5e3e0XcYp

— Ioan Gruffudd (@ioangruffudd) January 6, 2017

“It’s a rare one, that!” beamed Ben. “I think I had a bit of nose bleed being in the box in the first place. It’s one of those things. You try to get into the positions and if it goes in, it goes in and today was that day.

“It’s nice to get the goal but it just gave us that bit of momentum to get over the line. It eased the pressure. We were starting to force the issue a little trying to get that first goal.

Below: Ben speaks to Spurs TV

“It’s hard to break down teams who come here to make it difficult for us and sometimes put 10 men behind the ball but I thought we controlled it pretty well and I was delighted to score.”

Ben hardly needed reminding it was his first goal in 68 matches. “Thanks for that! I’ve come quite close on a couple of occasions! I’ve been due one and a goal with my head wasn’t expected but it felt nice, I must say.”