It's fair to say it's been quite a start to the season for Bolton Wanderers midfielder Ronan Darcy.

Having been drafted into the first-team squad at the crisis-hit club at the start of the campaign, Darcy made his debut for the club as a substitute on the opening day of the season at Wycombe, and the 18-year-old then impressed in his first start for the club, as Bolton's young guns held Coventry to a 0-0 draw to take their first point of the League One season on Saturday.

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Now Darcy has gone even better, after the youngster hit his first senior goal for the club during Tuesday night's Carabao Cup first-round tie away at League One rivals Rochdale, with the midfielder opening the scoring 14 minutes into the game with a long-range effort into the bottom corner of Rochdale 'keeper Robert Sanchez' goal.

But despite goals from Darcy and Dennis Politic giving Wanderers a 2-1 lead, the hosts rallied to eventually seal their place in the second round with a 5-2 win, denying Bolton a first win of the season in the process.

That, however, doesn't seem to have dampened Darcy's spirit too much, with the teenager taking to Twitter following the game to post a collection of pictures celebrating his strike, while thanking the club's fans in spite of the 'unfortunate' result, showing that the youngster seems to be relishing his spell in the senior side.

The Verdict

It's good to see Darcy enjoying his moment in the sun considering the circumstances.

While the result may not have gone their way last night, it feels as though just fielding a team is an achievement for the club, and Darcy deserves credit for his part in that.

The impact that he has made has been impressive, and with the youngster already finding the scoresheet, it certainly seems as though he has a big future to come, be that at Bolton or elsewhere.

Whatever happens, even at just 18-years-old, Darcy is already finding himself in the midst of something that very few players face in their career, and the way he has dealt with this adversity will also serve him well for years to come.