MILDENHALL’S George Lamb is looking to the future after sampling the prestige of life as an England international.

The teenager, a second year student on Hartpury College’s junior football programme, celebrated his 18th birthday in style last Friday by helping the England Schoolboys U18 side win the Centenary Shield with a 2-2 draw against the Republic of Ireland at The New Saints’ Park Hall Stadium.

Lamb, who successfully trialled for the for the English Schools Football Association representative side at the start of the year, also scored a first-half equaliser in England’s 2-1 win over Wales in Bangor on March 18 and the central defender could easily have got used to life in a Three Lions shirt.

“When you were out of the hotel before matches or on the train, people would stare at you,” said Lamb, who is set to due to study for a degree in sports management at Bournemouth University following his graduation from Hartpury this summer.

“People would ask you ‘who do you play for?’ and it was like being a celebrity – it was great. It was a strange birthday because I woke up and had a few happy birthday messages but I had to focus on the game, which was at 7.30 in the evening.

“Scoring in the Wales game was amazing. The ball came in from a corner and I half-volleyed it in and just ran off – it was all adrenaline.

“I’m going to Bournemouth University and I’d like to play for a semi-professional club down there. But there were lots of scouts at the England games and maybe there’ll be an opportunity for me from that.”