HARRY Lewis has highlighted Colin Doyle’s input in shaping him into becoming City’s number one.

The ever-present keeper is loving every minute of his move to West Yorkshire after seven years of living in the shadows at Southampton.

Lewis has shone in his first exposure to regular club football in England and has established himself on and off the pitch as a key figure in the squad.

But the 24-year-old insists club stalwart Doyle deserves huge credit for his work with him as City's goalkeeping coach.

“Doyler has been absolutely fantastic,” said Lewis. “He understands me more than I do so myself.

“What’s impressed me most is not only the stuff he’s doing on the grass to get the best out of me but, more so, what he’s done in a relatively short space of time to really get to know me and what I need and like.

“I’m very hard on myself after (conceding) a disappointing goal or even kicking the ball out of play. I’ve got high standards.

“What he recognised is that I’m an emotional guy. I’m very high when we win and very low when we lose.

“We got beaten 4-0 at Burton Albion in the EFL Trophy and were awful.

“Coming in Thursday, I was still raging. I felt myself still being angry.

“I want to train all the time but he told me to stay inside that day and just chill out.

“I wanted to be out there but he said it was for the best. So I stayed in, trained the next day and then on the Saturday got a clean sheet at Grimsby.

“It was probably the best game I’ve had this season. He knew what the right thing was to do.”

Doyle returned to Valley Parade in the summer after being released from his first coaching role at Kilmarnock. His relative inexperience in the position has not held back Lewis, who feels they have both learned from one of the best in the business.

He added: “We both share an ex-coach Dave Watson, who’s in at Southampton. He was England’s goalkeeper coach and probably the finest coach this country has produced in a long, long time.

“Coming in, I knew Doyler had worked with him (at Birmingham) and we were going to do similar stuff which is exactly what I wanted.

“Doyler also knows everything about this club and what it means to play for them. I’m very lucky to have him.”

Results like Saturday’s 3-0 loss at Leyton Orient will hurt a lot - but not dampen the enthusiasm Lewis has for his first season in the senior firing line.

It is something he has yearned for after so long at the bottom of the pecking order at his previous Premier League employers.

“I feel that I’m making up for lost time in a sense because I had a lot of time at Southampton where I wasn’t playing and wasn’t necessarily enjoying what I was doing.

“I know it sounds a bit cheesy and cliched but this is everything I’ve ever wanted.

“I have got aspirations to go as high as I can but all I ever wanted was to play football.

“I spent so long being unhappy and being such a miniscule part at Southampton.

"I was there for seven years and not many people outside the building would remember me.

“I’d like to think I was well thought of within the club but outside of it I probably wouldn’t be remembered particularly fondly.

“To be here and such a big part of everything is all I ever wanted to do. Wherever I go in my career and life takes me, I’m always going to be grateful to Bradford City and everyone who was involved in bringing me to this football club.”