YOUNG Town starlet Byron Lawrence is keeping the big names at the Blues on their toes.

That is the message from Town top scorer Michael Chopra who has predicted a big future for the 15-year-old.

Lawrence again trained with the first team on Monday before starting for Town in their 3-2 friendly win over West Ham yesterday afternoon.

And while the schoolboy might have to remain a little patient for his first team bow, he has received words of encouragement from Chopra who said: “When he was on the bench for the Carling Cup at the start of the season I knew then that he would be a player to watch out for. I’ve seen quite a bit of him in training and he’s got a bright future.

“I remember being young and training with the first team – it’s a real buzz. That keeps all of the older boys on their toes when you’ve got someone young and fresh running around and diving into tackles on the training pitch.

“Just because he’s training with us it doesn’t mean he’s made it yet though, he’s got to keep progressing.

Assistant boss Chris Hutchings added: “Byron has done very well, he is a bright spark and the fact he was on the bench for the first team shows how highly we rate the boy.”

Lawrence lined up in midfield alongside Icelandic trialist Teddy Bjarnason while Reece Wabara, Jay Emmanuel-Thomas, Luke Hyam and Daryl Murphy all started.

But it was 20-year-old Ronan Murray, coming on at half-time for Murphy, who stole the show, scoring twice and setting up a third for Nathan Ellington.