Debut caps fine campaign for Pritchard

Alex Pritchard capped a fine 2013-14 season with his Premier League debut against Aston Villa at the weekend and now hopes for more opportunities to progress next term.

The young midfielder earned rave reviews for his performances during a season-long loan with League One side Swindon Town, where he featured 44 times and scored six goals, as the Robins finished in eighth place and just missed out on the play-offs.

His eye-catching displays were such that he was nominated in two categories at the end-of-season Football League awards – League One player of the season and Football League young player of the year – and although he missed out in the final reckoning in both, it still showed he had made quite an impression at the County Ground.

Under the terms of his youth loan, Pritch was ineligible to play in Swindon’s final league game and so returned to Hotspur Way, earning a place on the bench and, subsequently, his Spurs debut in our last match of the campaign against Villa.

“It was great for me to be playing first team football at Swindon this season, I needed to get out and play competitively and I loved every minute of it,” said the 21-year-old. “I couldn’t play in the last game so I came back to Spurs and the coaches told me I would be training with the first team. I thought at the back of my mind I might get a chance against Villa and fortunately, I did.

“While I was at Swindon I was thinking that it would be great to experience playing at the Lane, so to get that opportunity and to play in front of a packed stadium was great, I really enjoyed it.”

Pritch grabbed his first taste of Premier League football in the 83rd minute when he replaced Gylfi Sigurdsson and showed some neat touches in his brief appearance as we cruised to a 3-0 win.

“I didn’t really have any nerves when I was told I was coming on, I just wanted to get on the pitch and play my football,” he added. “My first few games at Swindon playing in front of a crowd were a little tough but I soon got used to it and that helped me on Sunday, I could just go out and concentrate on my game.

“It was good to get my Spurs debut under my belt and to play alongside top quality players. It was a great way to finish the season and hopefully next year I can push on again and get even more game time.”