Northern Ireland have opted for a surprise call-up after adding former England Under-20s goalkeeper Christy Pym to their squad for their upcoming Nations League double-header with Belarus and Bulgaria.
The Mansfield Town goalkeeper has been named in a national squad for the first time, coming in as a replacement for regular number one Bailey Peacock-Farrell, who withdrew from the squad on Monday due to injury.
It is a first senior call-up for Pym, who is Exeter-born but qualifies for Northern Ireland through his Belfast-born grandmother, after representing England at Under-20 level up to 2014.
The 29-year-old will compete with Pierce Charles and Luke Southwood for game time in Michael O’Neill’s squad in Saturday’s clash with Belarus in Hungary, before they return to Belfast to face Bulgaria in a week’s time.
Pym does link up with the Northern Ireland squad in considerable form after three successive League One clean sheets with Mansfield, for whom he has started all nine of their League One games this season, conceding just 11 goals.
Pym started his career at his hometown Exeter City before moving on to Peterborough United, although he would spend most of him time there on loan at either Stevenage or Mansfield, whom he joined permanently last season.
While it seems likely that O’Neill will utilise one of Charles or Southwood given they were named in the initial squad, should Pym impress in training this week then he could leapfrog into the starting role given Southwood has made just one appearance and Charles is also awaiting his debut.