Captain Stephens proud to fulfil Wembley dream

The defender helped Saints keep a clean sheet in a nervy Championship play-off final that was decided by Adam Armstrong’s first-half strike.

For Stephens, the victory was particularly emotional given he was the sole survivor from the 2017 EFL Cup final team – a day in which Saints were cruelly beaten by Manchester United in a defeat the skipper described as “the lowest point in my career” this week.

“I was crying that day as well! For all the wrong reasons,” he said, referring to 2017. “That was a tough day for us, because we deserved to win that game. I always wanted to come back here and win with this club, and to do it as captain is just extra special.

“I felt so much pressure and responsibility today, like I have done all season. I’ve dreamt so many times about walking up those steps and collecting that trophy, so the feeling that I had when I did that was amazing.

“I’m crying happy tears every two minutes, but it certainly makes up for a few years ago. Just an incredible feeling to do it at this place, in front of our fans, it’s amazing, absolutely amazing. I’m so, so proud of the boys, so proud of the football club, I’m delighted.

“I don’t think we were at our best today footballing-wise. Leeds probably weren’t either – it was cagey, it was scrappy, but these games are. It’s high pressure.

“Two very good teams, it could’ve gone either way. Obviously the first goal is really important, so when we got that it was massive. The plan was to go and get the second and try to push on, but we sat a little deep and it was a bit scrappy and cagey.

“When you start seeing the clock run down, 20, 15, 10 minutes to go, you start thinking ‘let’s just hang on’ and we did that so well today. I thought the boys defended really well, right from the front. I’m so proud. So, so proud.”