Tom ‘honoured’ to display his talent on England stage
YOUNG Albion star Tom Fellows bagged a brace of assists on his international debut and has been backed to “continue to improve” for both club and country.
The tricky winger is enjoying a breakthrough campaign at The Hawthorns, having made himself a first-team regular and scoring his first league and cup goals in a campaign which seems destined to end with a Championship play-off spot and the chance to play in the Premier League next season. Fellows made his debut for England on Friday, featuring for the Men’s Elite League Squad in their thumping 5-1 win against Poland.
He started for the Young Lions, formerly known as the Under-20s, in Bialystok and featured for just over 70 minutes.
Fellows said: “I’m honoured to be called up, it’s something I didn’t really expect.
“If you look at the start of the season to now, the last thing I thought I’d get was an England Under-20 call.
“It’s an honour and nobody can take it away from me.
“Hopefully I’ll have grandkids and live a long life and to tell them I’ve been involved in an England set-up, it’s good.
“It should be a good experience, it’s good to learn off other coaches and a lot of good players, we’ll see what happens.”
Albion head coach Carlos Corberan said: “We’re always happy when our players are called up by their national teams. We’re happy because it means these players are doing very good things for their club and for us.
“The positive consequence of their contribution here at Albion is to go away and represent their nation.
“It’s the first time he has received the call and it’s a reward for him. It’s certainly an important step for his career.
“For me, Tom Fellows is a player who can improve even more and we’re going to keep working with him to help him achieve the maximum level of improvement. Everyone wishes him the very best of luck for his time away with England.”
Elsewhere on international duty, striker Andi Weimann was on target for Austria in their 2-0 friendly win against Slovakia in Bratislava on Saturday evening after coming on as a substitute.
Winger Mikey Johnston, enjoying an impressive run of form at Albion on loan from Celtic, also came on in the second half as the Republic of Ireland earned a 0-0 draw at home to Belgium.
In Africa, AFCON finalist Semi Ajayi completed 90 minutes for Nigeria, who beat Ghana 2-1, while West Ham loanee Callum Marshall was an unused substitute for Northern Ireland, who drew 1-1 with Romania in Bucharest.