Andrew Moran says opportunities with the first team make him ‘ten times the player’.
The 18-year-old came on for the final 20 minutes of our men’s pre-season friendly against Brentford on Tuesday and despite the 1-0 defeat, thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
“I made my debut with the first team last season and from there you obviously want more, any minutes, whether it’s pre-season or not, are so good.
“You get on the pitch and you’re coming up against lads like Ivan Toney and David Raya, you see these guys in the Premier League every week.
“I am not usually one for making big tackles, but it’s important that you show to your teammates you’re committed, it’s just as important as when you’re on the ball. You also want to impact the score the other way! It’s pre-season though, you need to show you can react and I thought we did well after we went behind.
“Every time you play with them it makes you better, ten times the player you were, because you try to follow their standard. If you do that, you’ll do well.”
The Republic of Ireland under-21 international has been inspired by the pathway Albion have in place for their young players and aspires to be a regular in the first team one day.
“I started with the under-18s, we had a good year and won the Premier Cup which was unbelievable.
“Last year I was with under-23s and made my first team debut, so hopefully I can carry on going up.
“One day I want to be playing for the first team every week like all the guys in the academy, but that can only happen if I do well in these situations and show what I can do in training.”