Conor Bradley will head into Northern Ireland’s upcoming Nations League matches with added confidence after making an impressive start to his loan spell at Bolton.
The 19-year-old Liverpool prospect has already made eight caps for his country but feels he is ready to play at a level after getting his first taste of regular senior football in League One.
Playing as a full-back, Bradley has made an instant impact at the University of Bolton stadium, scoring three goals in 12 appearances in all competitions.
“I feel good this season,” Bradley said. “Obviously it has been a step forward for me to play twice a week.
“It has been difficult at times, but I hope it will be something that will help me in the long run.
“I definitely feel more confident. I have a bit of a rhythm of playing twice a week. It’s mainly the trust part. I feel good about myself having played most of the games for Bolton. I just want to start now and put that on a Northern Ireland shirt.”
Bradley scored his first Bolton goal in a lopsided 5–1 EFL Cup win over Salford, and followed up with league goals against Morecambe and Charlton, wins that helped the Wanderers climb to fifth place in the table.
“I’m definitely getting into the box more, the timing of runs into the box and obviously finishing those chances, where I still want to get better,” Bradley said when asked which parts of his game have developed the fastest. since he joined Bolton.
“Also my handling of the game, I’m young, some of the players in England are stronger than me, so I’ve been dealing with it and trying to play with it…
“I hope it will help me with Northern Ireland. [Ian Baraclough] he likes to play quite similar to how we do at Bolton with full-backs and he also wants his full-backs to be in the box. So I hope I can add to that.”
Bradley made five senior appearances for Liverpool last season, including a substitute appearance for AC Milan in the Champions League, and remains in regular contact with the club about his progress with Bolton.
“It’s been massive that they’ve kept in touch and they still want to know how I’m doing and how I’m adjusting,” he said.
“Liverpool have been great in that way and I can’t thank them enough.
“It was the right time to take the step to the loan. He needed to go out and play as many games as he could.
“It’s a big learning curve for me, but it’s a move I had to make and I can’t wait for the rest of the season.”
While his club career is progressing, this week’s task is to help dig Northern Ireland out of the hole they dug themselves with a dismal run of results in June.
Two draws with Cyprus and defeats at home to Greece and away to Kosovo have left Baraclough’s side battling relegation from Nations League Group C, having started the campaign on the upswing.
With Baraclough under pressure from disaffected sections of the Green and White Army, a result at home to Kosovo on Saturday is imperative before Tuesday’s trip to Athens to face Greece top of the standings with four wins from four.
“We were disappointed in June,” Bradley said.
“We feel we could have done better. But we’re still positive and we’ve got a couple of familiar faces back, so we’re confident we can get two positives out of these games.”
