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FEATURE: Lewis Leigh Stars For U19s After First Team Debut


Photo credit: PNEFC.net 

Lewis Leigh captained the Preston North End U19s in a 5-0 demolition of Stockport County just four days after making his senior bow.

On Tuesday, the holding midfielder came on in the 88th minute of a 4-1 victory for Ryan Lowe’s side against Huddersfield Town in the Carabao Cup.

A North End fan growing up, Leigh spoke of his pride at making his first ever appearance for the first team.

“I was delighted to get on the pitch at Huddersfield,” he said in an interview with PNE.Com.

“It was an experience and there’s hopefully many more to come because it’s what I want to do.”

But for now, he remains focused on the U19s side and was proud of how well he and his teammates performed as they made it two wins out of two to start the new season.

He said: “The boys played well today in difficult conditions. Once we got the first, we wanted to get the second and once we got our rhythm together, we just kept going and going and didn’t give them a chance to come back.

“When it’s boiling, it’s probably the worst conditions to play football in to be honest but you’ve just got to push through it and the boys did well.”

The 18-year-old was pleased to be named captain of the side in Harry Nevin’s absence and is already looking forward to the next game, a Youth Alliance Cup match at home to Hartlepool United.

“It’s always good to captain the squad,” he said.

“You want to help the boys out and talk to them on the pitch, hopefully we can do the same next week against Hartlepool.”