Watford's Bangura is bowled over by the win of his life

After winning his appeal against a Home Office deportation order to send him back to his native Sierra Leone, where football would have been the least of his concerns, the 19-year-old Watford midfielder spent one of the most dizzying evenings of his life in celebration.

A reprieve — in this case in the form of a work permit — from a potential death sentence will do that to a man. Last night Bangura spoke about the relief of being granted a work permit at a hearing on Monday and what the future holds for him now.

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He said: "It's not the end of my career if I went back. It's the end of my life. If I stay here I am safe. People are able to help me.

"But if I went back now my life is not going to be safe and no one is going to help me. My career would have been a waste of time and my life would have been finished.

"I just feel that I am living my life now. It was not a life before and the opportunities that English people get do not happen in Sierra Leone. People might not work here but they still survive because they get money from the government.

"In Sierra Leone young kids were getting drugged up and they didn't know what they were doing. People said they were their dads and they weren't. I was always hiding during the war because I didn't want people to see me.

"It was so hard because people did not earn that much money to look after themselves. It is not a good place for anybody to be alive there. I had to accept it because I was born there. But if you have the opportunity to do things that you cannot do in your country you have to take them. You have to make sure you improve yourself."

Bangura was forced to flee civil-war- torn Sierra Leone after refusing to take his late father's place in the ritualistic Soko tribe which indulged in acts of barbarism and which threatened him with mutilation.

He fled across the border to Guinea, he was befriended by a Frenchman who brought him to Britain but then attempted to force him into prostitution.

Salvation arrived in the shape of a contract with Watford who spotted him playing youth football.

His fight to remain in this country has taken place away from the glare of the first-team spotlight as a broken elbow and an ankle injury have kept him sidelined so far this season.

His plight touched everyone in the Watford community and the club, in particular manager Aidy Boothroyd, have been unstinting in their support for the player.

Bangura added: "I started jumping around my bedroom when I heard the news. I was training on Monday morning. When I got back I was tired and didn't want to think about my situation.

"I went to sleep. I always sleep when I'm stressed and then the manager called me to say it was all over and that I was allowed to stay. I went out bowling with my friends to celebrate and won three games. As far as I was concerned, I always remained confident that I would stay and I had a lot of people fighting for me.

"I don't really know yet whether I will get a two, three or five-year work permit but I have got two years left on my contract here at Watford and I just want to get back playing and show everyone who has supported me that it was worth it."