Ipswich Town intern becomes one of football's youngest managers, aged 20 | OneFootball

Could the Tractor Boys have a potential future coaching star on their hands?

A youngster with Ipswich Town connections has recently broken the mould and stepped into football management - albeit briefly - and he could potentially have a bright future in the game.

It's evident that the Tractor Boys in recent years are all about giving young coaches a chance at all levels, and we've seen Lee Grant in his first coaching role under Kieran McKenna already go on to first-team management with Huddersfield Town.

Opportunities stretch to all levels though, including down to the under-18's team, where internships are handed out to bright youngsters - particularly in the data analysis sector of the club, with numbers and figures becoming a massively important part of football as we know it.

And for one particular Ipswich member of staff, they were given the opportunity to lead a men's football club out for a competitive game a couple of weeks ago for the very first time - and it ended up being a positive experience.

Ipswich Town youngster becomes non-league manager - and has 100 per cent win record

It has emerged that Alex Riches - a 20-year-old youngster currently doing data work for Ipswich Town as an intern - was handed the reins at non-league Suffolk outfit Lowestoft Town on an interim basis in February.

Lowestoft spent two years in the National League North between 2014 and 2016, but nowadays they are in English football's eighth tier in the Isthmian League North Division, and they are currently in a relegation battle to stay in the division.

And with no manager a few weeks ago, they turned to Riches on a temporary basis for their league clash with Mildenhall Town to see if any kind of impact would be made - a decision which made him one of the youngest non-league managers of all time.

As it happened, Riches was able to grab all three points for Lowestoft, with goals from Sam Aldous and Mitchell Belmar securing a 2-0 win for the club, which at the time gave them some respite in the battle to stay afloat in step four of non league.

Since Riches' brief stint in the dugout at Crown Meadow, Lowestoft have lost all three league games, conceding 11 goals and scoring just three times, so perhaps Riches was getting a tune out of them that others have not been able to do so afterwards.

It has been revealed that Riches is a student at the University of Suffolk, where he studies Sport Performance Analysis, and that allowed him to land an internship at Portman Road, analysing data for the under-18 and under-21 goalkeepers.

Alex Riches evidently has a bright future - either with Ipswich Town or away from Portman Road

It's clear to see that Riches is getting a lot out of his time at Ipswich, and given he's now shown a nous for management, there could be a bright future, either at Portman Road or away from there for the youngster once he's completed his studies.

The Ipswich setup clearly isn't a bad one to jump feet first into, and it's giving Riches opportunities outside of the Championship club too - ones which he's very excited about.

"It was a surreal moment," Riches told the BBC of his one-game stint with Lowestoft.

"Having that buzz of a victory, and a good performance to go along with it, I couldn't have asked for a better feeling really.

"Working with professional goalkeepers at Ipswich Town has taught me so many details, little and big. Being able to bounce off some of the best coaches in the game has been eye-opening."

It remains to be seen if Ipswich keep Riches on past his internship, but at this point, they'd perhaps be foolish not to.