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Two games in two days for Wheatley!

Ethan Wheatley showed his commitment to the Northampton Town cause at the weekend by playing two games in two days.

The Manchester United loanee was on international duty with England Under-20s but returned to the League One club and came off the bench in their home fixture with Rotherham United.

It evoked memories of ex-Red Mark Hughes's amazing feat when the Welshman participated in two matches in the same day in 1987!

After making four appearances for his boyhood club's first team already, the teenager is gaining valuable experience for the Cobblers, scoring his maiden goal for the club in their win against Exeter City.  

Ethan Wheatley in action against Switzerland Under-20s on Friday.

Wheatley came on as a substitute for his country's Under-20s in Friday's 1-0 reverse to Switzerland, replacing Jimmy-Jay Morgan, and almost levelled the game in the closing stages.

It came after he trained with the senior squad at St George's Park, an opportunity that United team-mates Elyh Harrison and Shea Lacey also enjoyed.

On Saturday, an injury to Jack Vale led to him being introduced for the Cobblers earlier than planned, 21 minutes into the 2-1 loss to Rotherham.

Speaking to BBC Radio Northampton after the game, our 19-year-old striker was asked if he anticipated getting so many minutes, he replied: “Not necessarily, no. I was expecting to come on and put a shift in but, with Valey's injury, I had to come on a bit earlier.

”Obviously, I was ready to do a job, to be honest, and put everything out there for the team.

“Yeah, it's been a busy week. I had one day with the seniors, helping them prepare for the Wales game. I got a good 34 minutes yesterday [Friday] and then on to today. That's all done now and it's disappointing to not come away with the three points.”

In terms of the chance to train with Thomas Tuchel's team, he admitted: “It's definitely the top level of the game, to be honest, all the players that you look up to and want to be like in the future. It was good to get my face in and around there and, hopefully in the future, I can kick on and, hopefully, be around it more.”

Mark Hughes discusses playing two games in one day with UTD Podcast.

It brought Hughes to mind, as he recounted his crazy 24 hours with UTD Podcast, somehow managing to represent both Wales and Bayern Munich, where he was on loan from Barcelona, on 11 November 1987.

“We needed to win a European Championship game for Wales,” he told us. “I had only just gone to Bayern. [General manager] Uli Hoeness asked me to go to his house for dinner and said so you'll be able to play for us in the night time and I was thinking to myself is he having a laugh or is he deadly serious?

”He was clearly deadly serious and he did it before Soren Lerby, who played for Denmark against Ireland, funnily enough, from recollection. He flew him back so he said leave it with me.

“Unfortunately, we got beat in the Welsh game but I jumped in the car with Uli and we ended up in a little plane, it wasn't a flash jet or anything. We were playing Czechoslovakia, so it was just over the border from Germany, and the game was actually going on, the floodlights were on when we flew over the stadium as they were playing!

”We had to land at the airport and I jumped in a green Porsche, from memory, and Uli drove like a bat out of hell! We got there at half-time. I don't know how they did it, I must have been on the teamsheet clearly. We were losing the game so they made a change on 60 minutes and, lo and behold, I came on. As you would expect, we won the game and I was the big hero!

“The reality was I didn't get a kick. I was absolutely knackered and was thinking what am I doing, running around, missing balls and falling over! I came on with Michael Rummenigge and he scored two goals to give us the win. Yet he didn't get a mention, it was all about me playing in two games on the day, which was a bit harsh on him!”

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