Lewis out to put his best foot forward with NI

JAMAL Lewis plans to hit the ground running with Northern Ireland and, given his impressive athletics background, he will take it all in his stride. In his younger years the Norwich full-back was a talented runner, leaving rivals behind in the 800m and cross country.

At one stage he raced for England Schools and was ranked in the top five in the country over 800m, and there’s no question his speed across the ground is a huge feature of his game.

The 20-year-old is now hoping to be quick out of the blocks in Saturday’s friendly with South Korea at Windsor Park.

He was progressing well in Northern Ireland youth sides, but after scoring in the FA Cup replay defeat by Chelsea in January there was a growing feeling Michael O’Neill had a diamond within his grasp.

“I was at Luton Town before Norwich City as a scholar so I did athletics and football, dual together,” said Lewis yesterday at the team’s Culloden Hotel base. “But it was always football as the main sport. I did running and it helps me with my game now, I feel like I can deal with the men’s side of football, the capacity of running and the physical side of it.

“It definitely helped me but it wasn’t like a 50-50 thing, I just enjoyed running and it helped my football as well.

“I ran for English Schools and I was ranked in the top five in the country for 800m but I don’t really think of it like that because I didn’t take it as seriously as others, I didn’t really read into it. I always loved football the most so I just happened to be good at running. It helps you get up and down the pitch.”

The fact that Lewis is with the senior panel instead of the Under-21 side this week underlines how highly rated he is by O’Neill.

His Belfast-born mother Catrina will be at Windsor Park to cheer her boy on and it will be an incredibly proud moment for the Lewis family — a moment they have spent years waiting for.

“I was at Norwich from the age of 16, probably around then when I was 17 I was at a training camp with Northern Ireland,” he said. “Then I got injured and just missed quite a few international breaks. I’ve been a bit unfortunate.

“Probably around the age of 16 I thought, ‘Okay, this could be something I could aim and strive for’.

“There’s a lot of friendlies but with the Nations League there’s still a lot of games coming up.

“I’ll definitely just try to get Michael to look at me in training and if he feels like I’m ready to get on the pitch I’ll just prove to him I could possibly be the No.1 left-back for the team and be a big part of the side and just look forward to every international break, getting called up and playing every game.

“The Under-21s have a big game against Spain on Thursday, we’ve done really well in the competition so far so we put ourselves in a great position.

“I know quite a few of the lads from when I played in the summer. It will be great to watch them and support them. It was good to catch up with the boys on Monday night and