I’ll top pal Liam by striking gold at Paralympics
David Porcher watched chi ldhood chum Liam Henderson pick up a Scottish Cup medal with Hibs last May – but the Scots striker might win a game of top trumps if he lands a Paralympic gold.
The 19- year- old from Livingston is already living the dream after being sent on a mission to Rio where Team GB will kick off their seven- a- s ide footba l l tournament against the hosts on Wednesday.
The squad features players with var y ing degrees of cerebral palsy and Porcher – who plays for Lowland League outf it Preston Athletic – admits the condition hasn’t affected his football.
He said: “I’ve had it since birth down my right side. But w i th footba l l it has seemed to be OK, everything has been fine.
“I was at Hibs for five years and everything was OK. They always had to take a bit more care of me but it was all fine. Same now in the Lowland League.
“The only difference is I’m up against men and it’s physically more demanding. But I’ve got used to that.”
Coming through the ranks at Easter Road he always wondered what it would feel like to pull on a national jersey.
And Scott Booth gave him a shot at Under-16 level for Scotland with a crack against the Dutch at a tournament in Portugal.
That was his only Scots appearance and although he didn’t get to keep the jersey a tracksuit is stashed away as a souvenir.
But the Games kit is his for keeps after shaking off an ankle knock to join fellow Scots Martin Hickman and Jonathan Paterson in the British squad.
And he insists the Para game is even tougher than life in the rough and tumble of the Lowland League.
He said: “It’s mental. This is seven-a-side so it’s totally dif ferent . I f ind sevens harder. Fitness-wise, you’ve got to be a lot sharper.
“There’s cons t ant running. In 11- a- side you can have a break at times. This is more demanding.”
With Ukraine and Ireland also in GB’s group it’s a step into the unknown for Porcher who’s had to swot up since joining the side.
He said: “I’ve only watched the highlights from 2012 to see the standards. It’s still all new to me.”
In London the hosts didn’t make it out of their group with the Brazilians and Ukrainians snuff ing out their hopes early doors.
But Porcher now hopes the y ca n shock the Brazilians in front of an expectant home crowd.
He said: “You don’t know how Brazil will cope with the crowd. Maybe they’ll crumble.”
He’ll have the backing of his old chums at Hibs who have been firing texts over to Brazil. Same with his mates at Preston Athletic.
He said: “They’ve been saying how massive this is.
“The club have been planning race nights, all to support me. I’d love to get the winner against Brazil and bring back a medal back to show them.”
Hundreds of names etched for life in the glass. Now his own is there alongside a list of legends.
His job from here is to prove his career has more value than just the one start that put him there.
The 21-year- old’s £1million move to join David Moyes at Sunderland last month ended a 14-year association with the Old Traf ford side spent dreaming of being one of the great graduates.
But the disappointment of defeat to Euro minnows Midtjylland on his debut and the arrival of Jose Mourinho conspired to make his f irst start his last.
The drop though wasn’t as precipitous as he feared it might be – and the chance to make a name for himself still in the English Premier League is one the Scotland Under-21 star is now relishing.
Speaking ahead of the young lions’ trip to Ukraine he said: “Not everyone’s going to come in and do what Marcus Rashford has done.
“A lot of the lads come in, play one or two games and are then out again. For every Rashford there’s another 10 or more players in my position.
“Do I feel hard done by at getting one game? Not really because it wasn’t my best game.
“Players were coming back from injury and I didn’t really give Louis van Gaal a reason to keep me in.
“I was still in and around it but it was the manager’s choice. He picked the experienced one.
“I couldn’t say anything bad about him because he gave me my debut for United and that’s what I wanted.
“He gave it to me and I’m grateful for that. When you drive into the training ground at United they have all the names of the academy graduates who have played in the first team on the glass. “I’m on there now. “They had it up there quickly after I played my first game and it’s there forever now. Players like Danny Welbeck and Tom Cleverley are there. Just to have your name there is an honour.
“All the academy kids will walk past it and see your name. Hopefully, it’s an inspiration for them.
“I walked past it for six years, looking at some of the great names.
“Now I’m on it and it’s a great thing – but now I have to show I could have played at Manchester United.
“I’m not trying to prove people wrong but I want to show I can do it in the Premier League.”
He shares that particular point to prove with the manager who just signed him.
And Love ins ist s the impression he gets from his first few weeks at the Stadium of Light is the Sunderland squad are ready to burst themselves for Moyes.
He said: “It was going to be hard for any manager to follow Sir Alex Ferguson at United.
“But if you look at the time van Gaal was given compared to Moyes it was definitely a bit harsh in terms of time to get the team playing his way.
“He’ l l def initely have something to prove. You could Liam Henderson refused to share boss Ricky Sbragia’s despair at Macedonia Under-21s’ sneakiness – and reckons Scotland should learn from it.
The youngsters’ campaign was snuffed out by a 1-0 defeat on Friday night as the last-minute Henderson goal that would have helped their wafer-thin Euro hopes was chopped off amid accusations of cheating.
Sbragia expressed his tell in the first game against City that al l the boys are behind him.
“There’s a small squad but everyone is 100 per cent with him. I haven’t heard a single person say anything bad about him in the changing room.
“I’d say his training in the last few weeks alone has probably made me into a better player already.
“He’s a hands- on manager. One of the only ones I’ve seen get really involved in training and not just leaving it. He shows you what he wants.
“I’m learning more on a daily basis than playing in, say, League One.
“You might prepare yourself to d rop dow n to the Championship to go and play because I hadn’t played many league games. I wondered if I’d end up going down there in order to prove to myself I’m good enough to play in the Premier League.
“Then this came up and you’re not going to turn down the chance to stay in the league.
“But anyone who puts faith in you, you’ll run through a brick wall for them.
“I could have stayed but I knew I was looking at a loan out anyway.
“Ever yone knew with Mourinho coming he’d bring in his own people. The way he plays he likes experience.
“Everyone knows the way he dismay after a match that saw the Macedonian boss rampage down the side of the Tynecastle pitch, their dugout kick spare balls on to the park to get the game delayed and every tackle result in a three-act play.
But as he headed out to Ukraine for Tuesday’s clash, Celtic midfielder Henderson said: “I wouldn’t say it’s frustrating. If you look at the top European sides in the works. And that will be good for United.
“But for me it meant I had to move on and make a career at Sunderland.
“I didn’t really wait around to find out if I’d be part of the squad.
“I believe I’ve made the right decision leaving for myself and trying to get first-team football in the best league in the world.
“There was a bit of sadness. After all I had been there since I was seven.
“I had a loan spell at Wigan but United is all I’ve ever known.
“You get to that age when you kind of know you’ve got to move on.
“I’ve played for United though and I’m proud of that. Not many can say that.
“There was a lot going on as I left. I went a day before Paul Pogba came in so they were a bit occupied with that. My move wasn’t quite as big as his though!” top leagues the stuff there is frowned upon here by the people who watch the game and the press. In a way it’s clever and the teams we play against do anything to win.
“I think we could learn a bit off that and maybe put it into the game. Maybe it’s not nice to see but at the end of the day football is a resultsdriven business so you just want to get the results.
“The goal that was chopped off, I just came in