ONE lucky Gunner from Stanford-le-Hope got to play with his footballing heroes at a recent Arsenal open day.

Seven-year-old Mayode Onaderu is a member of the club’s Junior Gunner young supporters scheme which gives youngsters the opportunity to meet the players.

On Thursday, August 8 Mayode was invited to play a part in the 30th anniversary celebrations of the scheme at the 60,000 seat Emirates Stadium.

He was selected at random from over 30,000 Junior Gunners to take part on the day.

29 other young ‘Junior Gunners’ also took part in a game of football with the Arsenal first team on the Emirates Stadium pitch.

The match, which was the first of its kind at Arsenal, saw the young fans take on Arsene Wenger’s team, which included stars such as Jack Wilshere, Santi Cazorla and Lukas Podolski with the help of Arsenal and England star Theo Walcott, who joined the Junior Gunners team midway through.

He also watched the Arsenal team train and attended a Q&A with Gunners players.

Mayode said: “I had a brilliant day at Arsenal. Not only did I get to meet my favourite players I was able to play football with them too!”

Mayode also released one of 30 balloons into the sky - each containing a free Junior Gunner membership for the 2013/14 season, to be claimed by the people that found them.