Tyler Smith is enjoying the challenge of his maiden season in first-team football, as he continues to impress during his loan spell at Barrow AFC.

The 19-year-old striker is currently signed until the New Year from Championship side Sheffield United and he has made the most of the opportunities given to him by manager Ian Evatt.

Having felt he’d gone as far as he could playing under-23 football, Smith has shown he can hack it in the more competitive environment of the National League and is currently the Bluebirds’ top scorer, with eight goals.

Smith is keen in helping AFC pull out of their difficult run of form, although sadly he won’t be available for tomorrow’s match at Ebbsfleet United, as he manages a tight hamstring. However, he should be back in training next week.

Smith said: “It’s been good to experience a first-team environment for the first time because everything is different, such as the training.

“You’re also playing for something because with the under-23s you’re not really playing for much and it’s more about performance, but now every game means something.

“I’d been through the under-23s for the last year or two and it felt like it had got a bit too easy after a bit, so it was good to go out on loan and face a new challenge.

“I feel like I’ve coped with the physicality well – obviously it’s not as physical in the under-23s and every game now I’m getting kicked to bits and dragged about, but it is benefitting me a lot, lot more. From where I am now to where I was at the end of last season is absolutely massive.”

So far this season, Smith has shown himself to have a mature head on young shoulders, which doesn’t drop in adversity, which can’t always be said for some of Barrow’s players.

An example of this was during Tuesday night’s 4-2 defeat against Harrogate Town, where the teenager struck a consolation with a well-taken header and continued to cause problems with the game beyond the Bluebirds.

Smith is on loan from a club in Sheffield United that have produced some excellent players in recent years, such as Leicester and England defender Harry Maguire, Everton forward Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Bournemouth midfielder David Brooks.

Smith says the Blades have been checking on his progress at Holker Street, adding: “I’ve gone back to them this week because I’ve been feeling my hamstring and I’ve been getting it scanned and treated.

“Every game they’re messaging us ‘are you playing today?’ and asking us how many minutes I’m getting, when the next game is, how I’m finding it, what training has been like, what my diet is like, and stuff.

“It’s not like they just send me out on loan and that’s that.”