GEORGE Lamb is set to celebrate his graduation to adulthood with three lions on his shirt.

The 17-year-old, from Mildenhall, near Marlborough, is on course for international honours after this week earning a spot in the England Schoolboys U18 side for their upcoming Centenary Shield campaign.

Lamb, who is a second year student on Hartpury College’s junior football programme, was put forward by his coaches to trial for the ESFA (English Schools Football Association) representative side and following a lengthy process, which included the final 32-man selection stage at the Lilleshall National Sports Centre last weekend, the central defender has bagged a Schoolboys berth.

Lamb and the rest of the 18-man England squad will take on Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales this year but it’s a clash with Ireland at The New Saints’ Park Hall Stadium on April 8 – their final Shield match – that will have special meaning for the Wiltshire youngster.

“The match against Ireland is on my 18th birthday. I can’t think of a better way to celebrate turning 18 than that,” he said.

“I’ve done a lot of different trials and when you first start, you just think that you’re lucky to have got that far but now I’ve gone all the way.

“They sent me a letter but it went home and on Tuesday one of my friends from the trials messaged me to say ‘well done’ – Dad (Chris) got the letter when he got home.

“You don’t expect to go all the way and to end up playing with an England badge on your chest but it’s an amazing opportunity for me.”

Lamb added: “I don’t know why they picked me. At Lilleshall, they tried us all out in a few different positions. I’m a centre-back, but they had me at right-back a few times.

“We played a game against the RAF U23s and then we had a few games amongst ourselves.

“The facilities at Lilleshall were absolutely amazing too and it was great to play there.

“We’ve got to go back there on the 29th to get together with the squad and then we’ve got a game against Walsall too.”

Lamb took part in preliminary trials on October 18-19 last year before impressing at South West regional trials at Clevedon Town football club on November 1.

The defender then moved on to play-off trials at Lilleshall on November 29 before making the final cut this week.