Winger Paddy Lane spoke to the Northern Ireland setup after making his first-team debut for the national side in their friendly against Hungary on Tuesday night.
Lane, who has impressed since joining the club from Hyde United last summer, has gone from strength to strength in the Fleetwood side and in League One in general as he’s managed to score five goals and assist a further eight this season, which earned him the call up to the national team last week.
After training with the side for a few days, he was on the bench for their 3-1 win over Luxembourg and was then named in the starting line-up for their clash a few days later against Hungary. He managed 61 minutes in the narrow loss, with fans and coaches all leaving the ground impressed with the young Cod's performance!
In a short interview after the game, Paddy had this to say:
On making his senior international debut…
“It was a great feeling; there was a lot going through my head as I was a bit nervous and a bit excited ahead of the game. I didn’t actually tell my family as I didn’t want that extra pressure but I’m sure they were buzzing when they saw me in the starting line-up. I was just amazing to get out there in front of a packed Windsor! That’s my first taste of international football at the senior level now and that just makes me excited to have the chance to get more.”
On being with the squad and the experience…
“I came to the game against Lithuania, and they were unbelievable then, every single one of them is mad but it’s superb when it gets going – it gets loud! It’s a hard thing to describe, saying now that I’ve made my full international debut is unbelievable as it’s not only great for me, but also for my family and for the club [Fleetwood Town] who produce so many players and are one of the reasons why I was able to show what I could do out there tonight.”