How Halifax Sunday League saved Portsmouth starlet's career after devastating Blackburn heartbreak

Now the 22-year-old is a Northern Ireland international and performing for Pompey in front of 18,000 crowds.

It has been a remarkable career comeback for the talented winger who, seven years ago, contemplated walking away from football.

Lane was released by Blackburn at the age of 15 on account of being too small, severing a seven-year Ewood Park association.

Left disillusioned by the game, it was the opportunity to play with friends for Halifax Sunday League side Greetland Goldstars which lured him back.

He subsequently returned to the Football League with Fleetwood in June 2021, via the non-league with Hyde United and Farsley Celtic.

And to cap Lane’s outstanding maiden campaign, the former Sainsbury’s shelf stacker was crowned Sky Bet’s League One Young Player of the Season for 2021-22.

The Pompey attacker told The News: ‘Blackburn told me they were releasing me at 15 because I was too small, although it could have been anything.

‘Then, two years later, I had a growth spurt – I’m 5ft 11in now!

‘In football you get disappointments, highs and lows, but you’ve got to stay on neutral ground. At the time you think it’s the end of the world and, luckily enough, I found the right place for me to develop.

‘Although after Blackburn I lost my love for the game, so I started playing Sunday League with my friends, just trying to enjoy my football again. I really needed that.

‘My team was Greetland Goldstars, back where I lived in Halifax. I was playing with a bunch of my mates who I still speak to now and having a good laugh.

‘It got to the point where I was enjoying football again and then thinking maybe I should try it again.

‘Just before I was about to begin college, I received a call from Hyde’s youth-team manager Brett Issitt, who ran the team with Mike Allcock. About two days later I started my college course – and was training regularly at Hyde.

‘I was 17 and it was the best decision I ever made. I went on to play men’s football at an early age and it tuned me into the game in a way not many my age experience.

‘It changed my focus, I was playing in competitive games wanting three points to get up the league table. It switched my mindset, I realised I needed to do everything possible to achieve that.

‘Some people give up football after being released, I have been in that position myself and was close to going the same way, it’s tough, especially for a 15-year-old.

‘It was tough at the time – and luckily I managed to get back into what I loved doing.’

Recruited from Fleetwood on deadline day for an undisclosed fee, Lane has so far featured four times for the Blues.

And he’s revelling in challenges ahead having once contemplated never returning to football.

He added: ‘From Hyde I went to Farsley Celtic on loan, then was given a trial at Fleetwood and luckily got a contract.

‘After Blackburn, I needed to get back that passion and love for the game, that was the main thing.

‘If you’re enjoying something then you are always going to perform better. I need to enjoy what I’m doing – and I am back loving football again.’