Stopper gives reaction to England U20 call-up
After being called up to the England Under-20 squad for a friendly fixture against Romania, goalkeeper Christy Pym gave his thanks to the staff at Exeter City for having the faith in him to allow him to play the football the earned him his call-up, and for allowing him to fulfil a dream of pulling on a jersey bearing the Three Lions.Pym, as well as midfielder Matt Grimes, was called up to the Young Lions squad for the first time for the fixture, which takes place at New Bucks Head on Friday 5th September (kick-off 7.30pm).
“We’ve got to thank the club, the staff and Paul Tisdale for letting us go,” said Pym. “We’ve got games against Northampton and Mansfield either side of the time we’re away, so it’s good of them to let us go.
“They’ve put trust and faith in us to go and make a name for ourselves.
“It’s every boy’s dream to play at the higher levels of football, but it’s only the start – we’ve got to go off and impress and then come back and focus on the season and doing well here first, and not getting too carried away with it.”
For Pym, the call-up comes just over six months after his first appearance as a professional, as he featured in the Grecians’ 3-2 win at Southend back in February.
The 19-year-old ended the 2013/14 campaign with five consecutive starts – keeping clean-sheets in the final two games – and has begun the new season as the first choice between the posts.
Now he feels that the next challenge is in proving their worth when they link up at England’s headquarters at St George’s Park next week, and showing that they merit their place amongst the country’s finest young prospects.
“It hasn’t really sunk in yet – it won’t until we get up there I suppose, and we’ve got to think about our game on Saturday against Northampton first and go from there,” continued Christy.
“I can’t take anything for granted just yet, but I’m enjoying football at the moment and I feel like I’m in a good place with where I am.
“It’s all gone very quickly – it only feels like yesterday that I played Southend, and now we’re here and I’ve got a call-up – it’s a bit of a surprise really.
“We’ve got to kick on from here and prove a point to everyone why we have actually been selected, and pay them back for selecting us.
“It’s a dream come true really. It’s something that you don’t think is going to come at this stage in your career.”