Conor Bradley’s sensational season with Liverpool continued at the weekend when he picked up his first piece of silverware with the club after Jurgen Klopp’s youthful side’s 1-0 extra-time win over Chelsea in the final of the Carabao Cup.
The 20-year-old started the Wembley showdown at right back, but following a first-half injury to Ryan Gravenberch he showed his versatility by switching to the right wing before being replaced on 72 minutes.
Speaking to Sky Sports after Liverpool’s historic 10th League Cup success, Bradley said: “I don’t think I can put it into words. I have supported this club since I was about five years old so to win a trophy with them at Wembley it's just special.
“Thankfully I wasn’t on at the end because I don’t know if I could have kept my composure.”
The Tyrone-born defender, who became the first player from Northern Ireland to win a League Cup winner’s medal since Jonny Evans back in 2010, also had words of praise for outgoing Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp.
“He’s just such a special manager to work under. I just need to cherish every moment I have got left with him because obviously he’s going in the summer.
“I just want to enjoy every moment with him now and try and win everything we can with him.”
In the Scottish Premiership winger Matty Kennedy scored his third goal of the campaign as Kilmarnock recorded a 2-0 victory over his former club Aberdeen to keep alive their hopes of European football next season.
Also on target over the weekend was QPR’s Paul Smyth who helped the struggling west London outfit move out of the Championship drop zone with a 2-1 success over bottom-of-the-table Rotherham United at Loftus Road.
Elsewhere, midfielder Charlie McCann gave Forest Green Rovers’ League Two survival hopes a boost with a stunning 20-yard winner in the 1-0 success over Tranmere Rovers, while Cameron McGeehan’s seventh goal of the season helped earn Colchester United a draw at Sutton United.
There was a first league start for under-19 international winger Lewis Trickett in Accrington Stanley’s 1-0 home defeat to Crawley Town and a debut for Ayr United’s teenage goalkeeper Josh Clarke who joined the Scottish Championship side on loan from Celtic last week.
Goalkeeper Conor Hazard kept his fifth clean sheet of the season as Plymouth Argyle won 2-0 at Middlesbrough and George Saville provided an assist for Millwall’s first goal in their shock 2-1 victory at promotion-chasing Southampton for whom Shea Charles was an unused substitute.
Meanwhile, in League One, a knee injury meant striker Dion Charles was again missing from the Bolton Wanderers team that saw their automatic promotion hopes take a dent following a 4-1 defeat at Blackpool who had to replace former Linfield forward Shayne Lavery at half-time due to a muscle injury.
Talented Leeds United midfielder Charlie Allen, who recently joined York City on a month’s loan, played his second game for the National League side as they went down 2-0 at second-placed Barnet.
Midfielder Patrick Kelly helped West Ham United U21s progress to the semi-finals of the Premier League International Cup following their 2-1 extra-time victory over Brighton & Hove Albion for whom Ruairi McConville came on as a late substitute.
Finally, in the U18 Premier League, Northern Ireland U19 striker Reece Evans came off the bench to score twice for Leicester City to earn them a 2-2 draw at Reading.
