Second-year scholar Charlie Lyons hopes the youth team can continue building positive momentum ahead of their FA Youth Cup Third Round visit to Tottenham Hotspur at the end of the month.
The Irishman helped the young Lilywhites to an emphatic 6-1 win away at Carlisle United on Saturday, the youth team’s third consecutive win, with the defender scoring North End’s fifth goal of the game in what was his first start of the season.
And after making his youth team debut against AFC Wimbledon in last year’s FA Youth Cup, Lyons is intent on making a mark in the competition once again this year.
“We’re doing well at the moment, in the league and in the cup competitions,” the 17-year-old told PNE.com. “We want to push on again on Tuesday [against Accrington Stanley], get another win and build even more momentum and we can see what happens.
“I’m trying to get some minutes under my belt before the FA Youth Cup game against Tottenham and hopefully just give myself the best chance of playing in that game and getting into the squad for that game.
“There’s lots of competition for places at the moment. We have players like Fenners [Lewis Fensome], Tom Stead, Cameron Day and Prezzy [Precieux Ngongo] available at centre-back so it’s all to play for.”
Lyons was also delighted to score his first goal for the young Lilywhites and to make his return from injury in the emphatic victory over Carlisle before being substituted just prior to the hour.
“I’m happy just to be picked to start the game. It’s been a long four months out and it’s great to get on and get minutes under my belt.
“That’s my first goal for the club and hopefully not the last. We started a little slowly but then got ourselves into the game and once we scored one, we just kept going at them and kept getting more goals. We broke them down well and kept on top of the game which is pleasing.
“I thought we did well at the back it’s just we lacked a bit of concentration towards the end and that’s what led to their goal. But we defended well throughout the game and worked hard as a unit.
“Now it’s about the team building on this win and keep going towards that Tottenham game and try to build some more momentum and hopefully we can put in a good performance against them.”