LEE Holsgrove, who went to the same Lilleshall School of Excellence as England World Cup prospect Michael Owen, became Neil Smillie's first signing on Tuesday - and then said he's got some catching up to do.

The 18-year-old defender was once regarded among the top 16 schoolboy prospects in the country and trained with Owen every day.

But while his famous classmate has shot through into the Premiership Hoslgrove has been released by Millwall, squeezed out at Watford, and rescued by Smillie.

Holsgrove said: "I was at Lilleshall at the same time as Michael Owen, and Michael Ball and Michael Branch who are now at Everton, and John Curtis at Manchester United. They've all got into the Premiership while I've had some disappointments.

"It's nice to see Michael Owen doing so well but at the same time it's gutting that it is not me.

"But I will prove people wrong and I will get there. It's a marathon not a sprint. Football is all about opinions and I'll prove that Millwall's opinion was wrong.

"I had a lot of success at an early age and I would swap that for success now. Thousands of kids do well early on and then disappear but I'm not going to let that happen to me. I had a setback at Millwall, but Wycombe have given me a second chance and I'm going to take it."

Smillie has signed him on a year's contract after taking a look at him towards the tail end of last season after Watford recommended him to Wycombe.

Smillie said: "He was highly rated as a youngster and perhaps he has under-achieved since then. He's a good footballing centre half. He's comfortable on the ball and he reads the game well."

Holsgrove comes from a footballing family. His brother Paul has just been released by Stoke City and his younger brother Peter is on schoolboy forms at Wycombe while his dad John was a professional with Wolves and Sheffield Wednesday.

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