England C squad proves Non-League has plenty of talent, says defender Sam Habergham

Pic: David Loveday

SAM HABERGHAM thinks England C’s squad for Estonia shows how many good young players are in Non-League.

Non-League’s Three Lions fly out to Tallinn next Sunday knowing they must get a result to book their place in the International Challenge Trophy final against Slovakia.

Habergham has featured in both their group games so far – an impressive 2-1 win against Ukraine and a heart-breaking last-minute 4-3 defeat to Slovakia in June.

Paul Fairclough’s squad met up at Warwick University for a three-day training camp at the beginning of last week.

New faces James Hardy and Jamal Lowe, a late call-up for Boreham Wood’s Morgan Ferrier, scored in a 2-1 60-minute game against National League North side Nuneaton Town.

And Habergham says they will meet up at Heathrow in a good mood.

“It’s always good to have new players in,” said the Lincoln City left-back. “You play against these boys every week and see them doing well. When you come here you realise there are a lot of very good players here, as well as some who didn’t get in the squad this time. You’ve got to keep working to get picked. You’ve got to keep your club form going and then hope you get the call up.

Professional

“It was disappointing in the summer not to get the result against Slovakia. We need to go out to Estonia, put in a professional performance, and get the result. We played really well against Slovakia, we were 3-1 up, and I thought we were cruising. But then they obviously came back into the game, so we need to go to Estonia and get the result.”

Like his England C team-mate Alex Woodyard, Habergham followed boss Danny Cowley from Braintree to the Imps in the summer And the 24-year-old’s already feeling the benefit of full-time football.

“There are bits I wanted to improve over the summer and leading into the new season that you probably can’t do when you’re part-time,” he said.

“I’ve put the 3kg on that I wanted to and that’s all in strength and power. When you’re part-time and can’t time your meals it’s not as easy. Now all the focus is on football and it’s a lot easier. We do a lot of strength and power work, and it’s paying off.”