Wolverhampton Wanderers' Lewis Richards conquers debut nerves to help Harrogate Town keep a clean-sheet

The Wolverhampton Wanderers youngster swapped the Premier League for English football’s fourth tier when he signed a loan deal at Wetherby Road earlier this month, and made his Sulphurites bow during Saturday’s 3-0 success over Oldham Athletic.

Lining up on the left of a new-look back-three, the 20-year-old showed up well despite having no previous experience of League Two football, helping Simon Weaver’s team to a rare clean-sheet and a first league victory since November 23.

Richards looked composed and assured as he went about his work, defending efficiently, while demonstrating the confidence to get on the ball and play out from defence when the opportunity arose.

“It was good, we managed to keep a clean-sheet and I’m really happy with that, happy for the lads and hopefully we can use it to kick on," Richards told the Harrogate Advertiser.

“I sort of had an idea that I'd be playing during the week but he [Weaver] called me up in the morning and told me that he’s not gonna make it, but wished me luck. He told me to go out and play my football, but, first and foremost defend.

“There were nerves, good nerves, though. I was excited but there were a few nerves, however they cooled off throughout the game.

"I didn't know how it was going to be because it was my first game in League Two, but I had a lot of time on the ball which allowed me to step in, try and find a pass and start the play.

"Stepping in and getting on the ball is a big part of my game. It suits me on the left of a back-three, it is one of my better positions."

Directly alongside Richards at the heart of Town's back-three was 34-year-old Rory McArdle, a veteran of well over 400 Football League appearances.

The experienced centre-half noticeably went out of his way to try and guide his younger team-mate through the 90 minutes, something that the Wolves man said he felt the benefit of.

"It gave me a lot of confidence, just in terms of understanding the game and where I need to be," Richards said of McArdle's assistance.

"Sometimes I wasn't in the right position, but he was talking me through it, constantly talking me through the game.

"It's been good so far, each day the guys have been good to me, they have been guiding me. Most of them are older than me so they've been helping me out and trying to develop my game.

"I just want to play as many games as I can while I'm here, help the team win as many games as we can and keep pushing forward."

Richards became Town's fourth signing of the January transfer window when he made the switch to North Yorkshire last week.

The left-footer joined Wolves from Brentford aged 15, has featured for the Molineux club's under-21s in the EFL Trophy for the past three seasons and has also represented Ireland at under-19 and under-21 level.

He was promoted to Wolves' first team in the 2019/20 season and was then awarded a new contract in July 2020, after featuring in match-day squads for Europa League ties against both Besiktas and Sevilla.

He was then regularly included in Nuno Espirito Santo's match-day squads throughout the 2020/21 Premier League campaign.