Pride for Derby County's Will Hughes as he makes his debut for England U21s
WILL Hughes described his debut for England Under-21s last night as a very proud moment.
The 17-year-old Derby County midfielder played 24 minutes as a substitute in the 2-0 victory over Northern Ireland in a friendly international at Bloomfield Road, the home of Blackpool.
In doing so, Hughes is thought to be the second youngest player to represent England at under-21 level after Arsenal's Theo Walcott.
Walcott was 17 years and 152 days old when he made his first appearance. Hughes, whose birthday is in April, was 17 and 220 days old yesterday.
Business Cards From Only £10.95 Delivered www.myprint-247.co.uk
View detailsOur heavyweight cards have FREE UV silk coating, FREE next day delivery & VAT included. Choose from 1000's of pre-designed templates or upload your own artwork. Orders dispatched within 24hrs.
Terms: Visit our site for more products: Business Cards, Compliment Slips, Letterheads, Leaflets, Postcards, Posters & much more. All items are free next day delivery. www.myprint-247.co.uk
Contact: 01858 468192
Valid until: Sunday, May 26 2013
"It was a very proud moment," said Hughes.
"When you represent England at any level it is great but at under-21 it is very special considering I am only 17.
"To be called up is one thing but to get on the pitch was an amazing feeling.
"I enjoyed it out there. The first few moments were a bit nervy but once I got a few touches of the ball it became easier.
"The last few days have been a brilliant experience for me and I've tried to make the most of every second and learn as much as possible."
In a nice twist, the game featured two former Repton School pupils – Hughes and Jonny Gorman, the 20-year-old Wolves' midfielder who was on the bench for Northern Ireland. Gorman has been capped at senior level.
It has been a dream year for Hughes, a product of the Rams' Academy.
He has become a regular starter for Derby in the Championship this season and has signed a new long-term contract.
Hughes was named among England's nine substitutes and his big moment arrived after 66 minutes when he replaced Josh McEachran, the Chelsea midfielder who is on loan at Middlesbrough.
Nigel Clough said Hughes would not be fazed by his call-up and the Rams manager was right. He took up a deep-lying role in central midfield, displayed his usual composure on the ball and saw a shot from distance deflected over.
England dominated for long spells of the contest and were on top from the first whistle.
The first half was played almost exclusively in Ireland's half and with plenty of men behind the ball, they frustrated England.
But the Irish resistance was finally broken in stoppage time at the end of the first half. Jordan Henderson delivered a free kick and Connor Wickham powered a header beyond keeper Conor Devlin.
Ireland brought on Gorman after an hour but it was England who continued to threaten and they doubled their lead after 76 minutes when substitute Benik Afobe converted a penalty after he had been brought down by Devlin.
ENGLAND U21: Amos (Steele, 46); Smith (Clyne, 60), Wisdom (Maguire, 60), Lees, Robinson (Moore, 84); Ince (Waghorn, 77), McEachran (Hughes, 66), Henderson (Chalobah, 77), Powell; Wickham, Townsend (Afobe, 60). Other sub: Johnstone (gk).
NORTHERN IRELAND U21: Devlin (Glendinning, 77); Hodson (C McLaughlin, 46), McKeown (Donnelly, 85), Clucas (Morgan, 68), Thompson (Hegarty, 77), Flanagan (McEleney, 46), Winchester (Gorman, 60), Lund (McAlinden, 77), Magennis (Boyce, 77), P McLaughlin, Carson.
REFEREE: J Beaton (Scotland).
ATTENDANCE: 8,040.
Comments
by 60yearramsfan
Wednesday, November 14 2012, 10:27PM
“Rigormortis I agree with every word you say except that Will should remain here at PP and be happy to achieve with Rams. GSE have made it clear they have a policy of building from the Academy so if the club are to succeed with that policy Will needs to be the first of many and the club must show the same ambition to succeed that this young fella has already. His talent is well capable of premiership already so that is where Rams need to be - not providing this sort of talent for someone else. If it ever becomes clear that GSE are prepared to sell we must receive at least the £12M that Saints got for Walcott & Oxlade-Chamberlain. Personally I would refuse such money in order to watch this lad and Jeff Hendrick, and others like them, for years to come so we shall now see what sort of ambition our club has under GSE otherwise I may as well give up on the 2 season tickets I have held for many years past..”
by rigamortis
Wednesday, November 14 2012, 12:58PM
“Perhaps we shouldn't keep writing stuff like this as it's really important he stays grounded..and I know I might be looking at him through slightly biased spectacles..
but even in those 25 minutes he played 3 lovely little "weighted" balls threaded through a crowd of players landing perfectly at the feet of Powell.
This lad REALLY is something special, the way he sees the game is incredible. I would pay to watch will hughes on his own. He makes difficult passes look so easy and the range and variation of his balls are superb. The fizzed through balls through a crowd will become his trademark as he pings his way through a game.
I hope we keep him past January, I hope he is part of the team that takes us up. If not then I'm going to enjoy him while we've got him, he's definitely going to be running the midfield in a year or two, whatever level he plays at.
Good Lad Will, it's things like this that will make Derby fans fall back in love with the club.
Homegrown talent that has the potential to be world class.”