EBBW Vale youngster Calum Antell continues to make great strides in his budding football career in Scotland.

The 18-year-old goalkeeper signed for Scottish Premier League side Hibernian last year and has progressed to the senior squad after a season in the youth squad. Antell started pre-season with the Edinburgh giants on June 20 and was thrilled to be given the first team squad number 21 after three other keepers were released.

That made the teenager third choice behind Mark Brown and ex-Arsenal man Graham Stack.

Antell made his first team début in a friendly against Berwick Rangers, playing the second half in a 3-0 win, then played in a 3-1 win against East Fife the following week.

In July it was decided that he would go on loan for a month to Third Division side East Sterlingshire and his first friendly game was against local side Newtongrange Star.

He then faced Glasgow outfit St Andrews before making his competitive bow against Dumbarton in a Ramsdens Cup match the following week.

Although East Sterlingshire lost 3-2 Antell had an excellent game, making numerous saves, and two weeks later he made his league début in a 1-0 win against Montrose and earned the man of the match award from his new fans.

His new club may be bottom of the pile in the entire Scottish league with just three points from six games but Hibs manager Colin Calderwood thinks the move will be a superb experience for the former Swindon Town youngster.

“We’ve got Mark Brown and Graham Stack both fit, so we had to get Calum some match action,” said former Scotland international Calderwood.

“It is a policy I’ve always used, and it is a policy that has real benefits.

“Calum has gone to East Stirling, and we have had another couple of enquires regarding our young players.

“We’ll pick and choose the right place for the boys and we’ll encourage them to go and perform on a Saturday.”