19-year-old makes first professional start for Doncaster Rovers

19-year-old Billy Whitehouse made his first professional start for Doncaster Rovers in their 1-0 loss to Notts County in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy on Tuesday.

Dickov is utilising youth in his squad

The young winger has made three prior appearances from the bench in the FA Cup and the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy for the club but was yet to start a competitive game.

“Naturally I was looking on the subs bench to see if I would get another bench appearance, then I saw my name in the starting eleven and had to look twice!” Whitehouse said to the club’s official site.

“I was nervous when I first saw my name but what an unbelievable experience playing against some good players.

“The longer you know you’re in the starting line up, the more you over think it. It’s better to just be thrown in without having to think about it and then you can ease your way into the game.”

Whitehouse, who played a full hour before being substituted, is the second first year professional to make his debut for Doncaster this season after Mitchell Lund started against Burton in September.

“There’s a lot of young players coming through the club at the moment which is great for us, and the gaffer has shown that if you get your head down and work hard in training you’ll get your shot.”

“It would be nice to get a full league debut and hopefully if I keep working hard and take my chance when it comes I’ll keep myself in the picture.”