SIX MINUTES is just not long enough.

Sure, it’s significantly more than the 21 seconds that Romeo and his hardy band of garage godfathers So Solid Crew sang about when they stormed to the top of the UK charts at the turn of the millennium - but for a Wiltshire footballer experiencing a career milestone of near-immeasurable proportions, six minutes was certainly not enough.

On August 29, Tyrone Mings penned the latest fairytale chapter in his dizzying rise from the depths of non-league, achieving what every football-mad child across the country dreams of by making his debut in the Premier League.

More than a month after completing a multi-million pound move to newly-promoted Bournemouth and sitting on the Cherries’ bench for three successive top-flight fixtures, the 22-year-old, from Chippenham, was finally handed his moment in the sun.

With Charlie Daniels forced off in Bournemouth’s clash with Leicester City at Dean Court with a knee injury, at half-time, Bournemouth boss Eddie Howe turned to Mings, opting to send his highly-rated summer signing into the fray.

This was it. The Cherries’ number 14 pulled up his socks and tightened the laces on his grey and blue boots before stepping out to sate his fervent desire for Premier League football.

Little did he know, this particular chapter of the Mings tale had a cruel twist in waiting.

Six minutes – that was the amount of time it took for the former Sheldon School pupil to be left writhing in agony after challenging Leicester’s Danny Drinkwater, Mings’ left knee taking the Foxes midfielder’s full weight as the two players vied for the ball.

The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald:
Mings in action at Dean Court against Leicester City

In reality, it was actually 12 minutes before the Wiltshire star was stretchered off and substituted, but the circumstances hardly could have been worse as less than a week later, it was confirmed that Mings had torn both the cruciate and anterior ligaments in his knee was ruled out for the entire season.

“I remember it completely,” says the sidelined Bournemouth man.

“The ball broke and I turned my knee inwards to block it but he ended up going over the top of the ball and landed on it. It obviously wasn’t ideal.

“Straightaway, I thought that it must have been a medial ligament injury because I’d hurt my knee before when I was at Ipswich.

“When I went for my first scan, it only showed that I’d strained the two ligaments and I was only going to be out for four or five weeks but there was a lot of swelling and when I went back for a second scan, that’s when I found out just how bad it was.

“It was a bit of a shock at first to hear that you’re going to be injured for nine to 12 months – I was just like ‘wow’.”

The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald:
Tyrone in training with his Bournemouth teammates

Having come to terms with his disastrous injury, which could well curtail his Premier League dream, positivity is the best policy for Mings.

“You just can’t dwell on things. I’m going to be out for the rest of the season but it is what it is – It’s just one of those things that I’m going to have to come through,” he says.

“You do get impatient when you want to play. Rehab is so tedious and you’re just spending all of your time doing really light exercises and there isn’t much more to it than that.

“It’s an extremely slow process and it takes a long time.

“When you go to the games on a Saturday, you just want to be out there playing but you can’t get frustrated with it – you’re out for the season and that’s something that you’ve got to get through.

“I still come in every day but I’m arriving as the lads are going out to train. They go one way and I go to the gym but I still eat with them all and it’s nice to be a part of the group.

“But I still just want to do things that I can’t.

“I think the best person to speak to it all about is the manager.

“He had his career cut short by injury and had a lot of problems when he was a player, and he had a knee injury right after making his debut for Portsmouth – it was his second game.

“He’s spoken to me a lot about rehab and what to expect because he’s been through it himself.

“My family and friends have been great too. A lot of people have come to see me and have been there for me to speak to and the support has been great.

“There’s still a lot of excitement at the club because of the promotion and all of the new facilities and things like that.

“We’re a Premier League club and the staff and the players are all enjoying the experience – this is why we play this game that we play.

“For me, I’ve got to keep working as hard as I can and hopefully we’re still a Premier League club by the time I’m back and ready to play.”

The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald:
Mings is unveiled by Ipswich following his move from Chippenham Town in 2012

After making a sensational move from his local non-league club Chippenham Town, where his father Adie was once manager, to Championship Ipswich in 2012, it didn’t take long for the tall, technical full-back to garner admiring glances from the top tier.

The rumour mill credited the likes of Arsenal and Chelsea with interest in Mings as he helped Ipswich into the play-offs last term.

But in the summer, it was newly-promoted Bournemouth who put on almighty show of faith in the defender, making him their record signing for a reported £8million.

Not bad for a player released by Southampton for ‘a lack of physical development’ as a youngster and passed up on by local clubs such as Swindon Town and Bristol Rovers, who must continually kick themselves to this day.

“It happened really fast,” Mings says.

“I was in Barcelona doing some training and I had a phone call saying ‘Bournemouth have had an offer accepted for you. It’s £8 million’. I couldn’t believe it.

“They wanted to get the deal done as soon as possible so I had to fly back and I was staying in a hotel in Bournemouth that same night.

“I went to the club and signed the next day so it didn’t take long at all - inside 48 hours, I’d become a Bournemouth player.

“I preferred it this way. I think it’s better that it all happened quickly and I didn’t have to think about it too much.

“I never thought that anyone would pay that amount of money for me but they obviously saw enough potential in me – I can’t worry about that.

“Everyone wants to play in the Premier League and it’s something that I wanted to do. When I started, it’s something that I didn’t think was going to happen but it’s a dream come true now.”

The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald:
Mings, pictured in action for Chippenham Town  against Swindon Supermarine's Ashley Edenborough

For a man who once played Western League football for Corsham Town as a skinny teenager, Mings has come a long way.

His rise up the leagues has been well-documented and contains more than its fair share of twists and turns, acting as yet another inspirational tale for the thousands of footballers up and down the country believing that their chances of making it to the top of the game are ever over (see Vardy, Jamie, and Austin, Charlie).

Aside from playing Southern League football for Chippenham and Yate Town, Mings was turned down for a job in his local convenience store and considered quitting the game altogether before the stars aligned to take him to Bournemouth by way of Ipswich.

It’s a path less trodden and something that will always keep the Wiltshire ace grounded but at the same time, Mings has earned every right to look to the future.

Having already overcome more than his fair share of challenges, the Cherries man is focusing on slowly but surely battling through his injury nightmare and emerging from the other side to continue savouring his dream come true.

The Chippenham ace says: “When I first started playing professionally, I used to think about the past a lot but I’m a lot more detached from it now.

“My story is a lot different to other peoples’ but there are some other players that have done the same thing as me. I still remember where I came from but it’s been three years since I signed for Ipswich.

“I remember quite vividly what it was like to play for Yate and Chippenham and the places that we used to go to, but things are a lot different now.

“When I signed for Ipswich, all I wanted to do was make my debut for them. I did that and then I wanted to make it to the Premier League.

“I’ve done that too now and now it’s up to me to listen to the doctors, come through this rehab and come back stronger than I was before.”