Walton delighted to finally make England U21 debut

Hatters keeper Christian Walton reflected on a fine week as he followed up his England U21 debut by playing his part in Luton getting back to winning ways at Leyton Orient on Saturday.
Christian Walton makes a save against Leyton Orient on SaturdayChristian Walton makes a save against Leyton Orient on Saturday
Christian Walton makes a save against Leyton Orient on Saturday

The 20-year-old began on Tuesday afternoon by keeping a clean sheet as the young Lions hammered Bosnia and Herzegovina 5-0 in their Euro Championship U21 qualifier at Walsall FC.

After travelling all the way to Kazakhstan to sit on the bench the previous week, Walton was thrilled to get his chance, saying: “It has a been a great week for me, they’re all great experiences and a massive honour representing my country.

“It’s what I’ve been waiting for and luckily enough I got the chance and it’s a massive learning curve.

“It was a great week and I’d like to go back if I was called, I’d be really happy to go back and play for England.”

Although England were easy winners, with young Chelsea starlet Tammy Abraham bagging another two goals, Walton had to be alert to make an excellent stop midway through the second half.

He continued: “Bosnia started well in the first five minutes and I thought we could be under a bit of pressure.

“Then the game settled down and we did dominate them, but that’s where I’ve just got to be focused for the whole 90 minutes and be ready for that one chance they may have and be at my best to save it.

“It was a great experience going away with those high calibre of players.

“It improves you as a player and you learn things off them because they’re playing Premier League and Championship every week, so I was probably playing in the lowest standard out of them all.”

Walton then returned to Kenilworth Road to take his place between the posts once more for the Hatters in their 2-1 win at the Matchroom Stadium on Saturday.

He continued: “It’s what we needed, we’ve been unlucky in the last three games with 1-1 draws, but it was good to get the win against a good outfit.

“We knew they were a strong side with aerial threat, so we were defensively solid I thought, it was a good win.”