Padraig Amond turned down the chance to face Sporting Lisbon this weekend to stay at Accrington Stanley.

The 23-year-old is on loan from Paços de Ferreira until the end of the season but there is a recall clause in his contract and the Portuguese side told the Irishman they were keen to get him back.

However, Amond – while knowing he had to go back if his parent club wanted him – said he persuaded them to let him remain at the Crown Ground.

"They are my club at the end of the day so, if they had wanted me to go back, then obviously I would have and they were playing Sporting Lisbon this weekend," said Amond, who has 18 months left on his Portuguese contract.

"But I am loving it at Accrington, I want to repay the faith the club have shown in me by getting me over here and I really believe that we can go up this season.

"It was hard as initially it was my decision but I had eight missed calls from them this week and it became their decision. Luckily I managed to persuade them that it was more beneficial keeping me here.

"It’s a new manager at Paços and he doesn’t know me and I guess I would be returning there to sit on the bench.

"Here I am playing every week and I want to help the new management take Accrington up.

"Everyone could see in the win over Gillingham how commited we are to their cause. Everyone is 100 per cent behind Leam (Richardson), Phil (Hackney) and Bryan (Hughes) and we really believe we can go up this season.

"I have said to Paços, if they still want me, I will return in July, hopefully have a good pre-season and then I can show the new manager what I can do and he can judge me on that. But I am happy to be here until the end of the season now – and I hope we are celebrating promotion in May."

Amond said he had taken some stick over the decision. "I don’t think the lads can believe it – they keep telling me the temperature in Portugal!"