Jay Stansfield has said 'it was a great experience' to make his debut for the Fulham first-team at the weekend, coming off the bench in their 2-1 win over Aston Villa.
The 17-year-old has had quite the season.
Joining from Exeter's youth academy last season and going onto the score a heap of goals for the U18 side, before being promoted to the development side earlier in this campaign.
From there he continued to impress and he was quickly in consideration for Scott Parker's first-team - he came on with eight minutes to play, and fans seemed impressed with what they saw of the forward.
Speaking to www.fulhamfc.com yesterday about his debut, Stansfield said:
“The last four months since I came here, I’ve had the chance to train with the First Team and show them what I’ve got, and they will give you the chance if you perform well week in, week out, and that’s what they’ve done with me.
“I trained with the First Team on Monday and then went back to the 18s on Tuesday. We had New Year’s Day off and then it was a case of either go with the 23s to play, or be on the bench with the First Team."
Stansfield was among five U23 players on the bench for Fulham against Villa, but only he and Luca de la Torre would make it on to the pitch.
“Luckily I got my chance to be on the bench and I was happy that I did get on and make my debut," continued Stansfield.
“It was a great experience. I was happy to be able to come here and do what I’ve done, and then get the chance to come on the pitch and show all the fans what I can do.”
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Fulham eventually won the game through Anthony Knockaert and a wonder-strike from Harry Arter who, making his first appearance for Fulham since mid-October, scored after just a couple of minutes off coming on with a fine strike.
Next up for the Cottagers in the Fourth Round is a trip to the Etihad Stadium to face Pep Guardiola's Manchester City.
The verdict
Fulham fans have known about Stansfield for a while now and after seeing him in action for the first time, they've plenty to be excited about.
He's clearly a forward with a knack for scoring and if he continues to impress for the development side, he'll be a regular in the first-team in no time.