MAKING his debut at Bradford was a dream come true for Samsung Win a Pro Contract winner Chris Smith.

The young defender came off the bench in the early stages of the game at Valley Parade after injury forced Nathan Thompson off the pitch, and looked steady as he faced an onslaught from a Bradford side looking to end their season in style.

Smith began the campaign playing in the Vodkat Premier League for Stone Dominoes, before jumping five divisions to link up with the League Two leaders in February after beating off competition from 5,500 hopefuls.

The defender found out on Friday that he was going to be on the bench at Bradford, but the enormity of the situation did not hit home until he was standing on the touchline waiting to go on.

“I got told on Friday that I was going to be on the bench, but then Nathan had to go off injured and I started speeding up my warm up,” he said.

“I was getting a bit nervous when I was getting ready to go on, so that is when it all really hit home.

“At the time I think I was more concerned for Nathan really because you don’t want to see any of your team mates get hurt, but luckily he is ok and has just taken a bit of a knock to his shin.

“Once I was on I thought I did alright although I was a bit nervy in the first half, which I suppose was to be expected because it was my debut as a professional footballer.”

Now he has had a taste of the first team, the former Staffordshire University student is already keen to gain more experience of a higher level of football.

“This has been the best experience of it all so far, and I want more. “I thought when the game finished that I could really get used to it, and I am really looking forward to next year now,” he said.

“The maximum amount of people I had played in front of before was probably less that 1,000, but then I made my debut in front of 11,000 so it was a massive jump.

“The concentration level you need and the pace of the game is a lot higher, and where I was playing before you could be 2-0 up and switch off and still win.

“But in this league you can’t switch off and you have to concentrate for the whole game.”