Preston North End starlet is enjoying first taste of first team football after scoring wonder goal on debut

Amaral is still only 19 and is getting his first taste of first team football in the Northern Premier League Premier Division – the seventh tier.

On his debut he curled in a wonderful strike from range, something which surprised him as much as anyone else.

He told the Lancashire Post: “It's going well. I've only been there a short while. I've had my first game and it went really well, we won 3-0. I don't really score, everyone will be wondering how I've done it. I just took it past a man and shot. I didn't even know how to celebrate because I don't score!

"You'll see Mikey O’Neill run it off like 'yeah, standard' but for me I just jumped up and hugged someone - it was amazing. I'm going to try and not let it get to me because in football you can't be too high because then when the lows come you don't know how to deal with it.

"You need to stay level-headed and know my work is not done and I have to keep working hard.”

What is new for Amaral is that he’s fighting for points every week that can help determine the outcome of a senior league season.

Youth team games are prioritising the development of the players, now he and his teammates must win, regardless of learning or otherwise.

He said: “In the academy it's a bit different because you brush it off and think about the next game. You do look at the league but not as much.

"But in this sort of environment you're fighting for the three points and when you do get the three points it means a lot more. It's a lot more exciting, it's good. I felt ready to go out.

"The initial plan was for me to stay around the first team and play with the U19s and reserve games.

"I wasn't around the first team that much so I was asking if I could go out on loan and I was told to wait whilst they found me a couple of clubs and then they asked if I felt ready to go out on loan and I was like 'I'm ready'.

"They sent me down and I'm enjoying it.”