ENGLAND Under-19s boss Noel Blake was well aware of Miles Storey long before he burst onto the scene with two goals against Aston Villa.

The Town striker started the Young Lions’ victory over Finland in Telford on Tuesday night, alongside another debutant, Carlisle’s Bradley Potts, and played 60 minutes as a central striker and latterly on the left before being replaced.

Blake has seen Storey play for the Robins and was obviously impressed with what he saw, and revealed the Town striker’s selection was down to far more than his Capital One Cup brace against the Premier League side.

“Every English player in this year group has an opportunity, if they’re doing the right thing with their clubs and performing well,” he said.

“We watch the games and people will look at us tonight and wonder where Miles Storey and Bradley Potts have appeared from, but I’ve seen him play for Carlisle United and I’ve seen Miles play for Swindon.

“So these boys haven’t appeared from nowhere. We watch them and monitor them and when an opportunity comes along, as it did tonight, they have a chance to show what they’re about.

“Even if they have a bad performance, and I’m not saying they did, that’s not the end of the world because we monitor them so we know what they’re capable of.”

While Blake is pleased to see Storey getting regular minutes in League One, he warned him international football is a completely different challenge.

“I always say to the new lads, international football is almost like going to the first day of senior school from a junior school,” he said.

“It’s a different kind of situation. League One football is a men’s game, but international football is a different game and played in a different way.

“That’s a situation the lads have got to get used to, playing with different people that they haven’t met before.

“We only met up together on Saturday evening and here we are playing together on Tuesday evening.

“So I have to be pleased with them, and I am pleased with them.”