Glenavon teen star Christopher Atherton caught the eye once again as he helped Glenavon Reserves romp to a 6-1 victory over Cliftonville Olympic on Monday night.
Plenty of cross-channel scouts were in attendance at Mourneview Park to keep tabs on the 14-year-old prospect, who was handed his first start for the Under 20s after hitting the headlines in September when he became the UK’s youngest ever senior player at age of 13 years 329 days.
Glenavon came from behind to record their emphatic win after Jaydyn Withers had put the young Reds in front on 13 minutes.
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Michael O’Connor equalised from the penalty spot 1 minutes later, after Robbie Garrett was fouled in the box. Bobby Harvey turned the game on its head on the half hour mark with a curling effort and Jamie Doran added a third five minutes later.
Doran got his second and the Lurgan Blues’ fourth in the second half as he converted a spot kick after Josh Doyle was brought down in the area. The 18-year-old then completed his hat-trick in the 83rd minute, with Robbie Morrow netting a sixth five minutes later to secure a comfortable victory for Stephen Thompson’s side, who were boosted by the inclusion of several first team players in need of match fitness.
Thompson, who took over the U20 job in the summer, explained his reasoning behind handing Atherton his first U20 start, with a number of admirers watching on keenly.
"Christopher's potential is massive," he said.
"I remember saying to Gary Hamilton after watching him for a few months, 'he will go across the water'. His vision, his touch and his balance are superb.
"As he gets older, he is taller and physically he can cope and he has the right attitude, so he is well equipped to go across the water.
"The reason why he played last night was that there were several scouts watching, plus Manchester United sent their main scout over from England to watch him.
"He is good, very good."
Thompson said that the senior players involved on Monday aided Glenavon's cause in maintaining their recent good run of form which has yielded four wins and two draws in their last six games.
"The issue with the U20s is that we had a few first team players down last night, and that makes a huge difference," he added.
"We expected to win because of the team we had out. We played Cliftonville a few weeks ago and the tables were turned as they beat us comfortably with a few first teamers. We had a good mix last night and I was pleased that we had three 2006s as well as a 2008 in Christopher playing.
"It was good that the first team players came down with the right attitude and set the standard and the young boys showed their potential. We've put a wee run together and whilst it is a development league to develop players, it is also good to develop that winning mentality."
The boss was also pleased that Doran has been able to find form this season after a difficult spell out of the game with a knee injury.
He said: "Jamie was out a long time with that injury but he came back in pre-season, and he has mainly been on the bench for the first team this season.
"He is starting to play now for us, which is good, he always had that potential, but he missed ten months. Now this season he is able to kick on and show that potential, when he comes down with us, he gives a good account of himself."
The result leaves the Reds in third, twelve points behind the pacesetters Crusaders and Linfield, albeit with two games in hand. Yet, after two losses on the bounce, Marc Smyth’s side will now be looking over their shoulder as the chasing pack close in, with Glenavon themselves are only two points behind Cliftonville.
Former Cliftonville defender Smyth was understandably frustrated with the manner of Monday night's defeat but believes it will be a great learning curve for his young side.
"I think naturally you're disappointed, the players are disappointed, but I suppose when we reflect back on it, if you're going to brave and go with a young side and come up against the quality that we did on Monday results like that might just happen," he said.
"That wee bit of experience helped them, but the boys will learn a lot more from that game than they ever will me coaching them. The performance wasn't acceptable, so it was hard to take, but young players are going to make mistakes."
Smyth was more relaxed when quizzed about Cliftonville's position in the league table after recent results, emphasising the need to continue the club's rich history of developing players for first team football.
"We won't be defined by our results at U20s, our job ultimately is to get players into the first team," he added.
"If you look from last year's squad, we have lost Liam McStravick, who is playing first team at Linfield, Sean Moore playing first team with Cliftonville, Michael Morgan in the Championship with Newington and Aidan Kelly getting a contract in America.
"We lost those talented boys for the right reasons so in a way we are delighted but we are victims of our own success in terms of bringing players through, long may it continue."
Elsewhere, Crusaders moved level on points with Linfield, following a 4-1 victory over Larne at Seaview at the weekend. Jay Boyd bagged a brace once again with Bradley Maguire and Josh Millar also getting on the scoresheet as David Rainey’s team made it three successive victories.
Linfield were unable to stretch their lead at the top of the table as their nine-game unbeaten run was brought to a halt by Portadown on Monday night. First half goals from Johnny McCullough and Jonah Mitchell secured the win for Aaron McNeill’s men, despite Ross Boyd pulling a goal back for the young Blues late in the game. The Ports have now recorded back-to-back league victories.
At the Showgrounds, strikes from Jack Patton and Rodney Brown were enough for Coleraine to see off Carrick 2-1 at the Showgrounds and move up to seventh in the table. Jonathan Doyle pulled a goal back for the visitors, but it proved to be a consolation.
Dungannon produced a stunning performance for their first win in four games as they thrashed Glentoran 6-1 at Stangmore Park. Ben Gallagher, Marc Walsh, Calum McWhiter, Tomas Glavin, Adhamh Towe and Kenny Ximenes were all on target for the Swifts, who are now just two points behind Glentoran with a game in hand.
Newry remain rooted to the foot of the table after another drubbing, this time at the hands of Ballymena, who triumphed 8-1 at the Newry Showgrounds to return to winning ways after two successive defeats.
David Taylor bagged a hat-trick, with Lewis Tennant scoring twice with Craig Farhuhar, George Campbell and Joshua Stewart also netting for the Sky Blues.
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