Second-year youth midfielder Liam McCarron made his first team debut against Morecambe in the Checkatrade Trophy last week before then finding himself on the bench against Cambridge at the Abbey Stadium on Saturday.
We caught up with youth boss Darren Edmondson to get his thoughts on his 17-year-old wide man.
“It was obviously great for Liam to make his debut last week," he said. "I thought it was nice that when his number came up for him to go on, all of the lads were in the stand taking pictures and videos on their phones.
"It might have been to mock him a little bit as well, because that’s what lads do, but I could see that they were all proud of him, because he’s part of their team. It gives all of the lads a great lift to see that the first team manager is prepared to throw someone in and give them a chance.
"He should have had a goal as well, shouldn’t he! We’ve all discussed that behind the scenes with certain senior professionals!
"We’ve had a laugh about it, and all Liam can do now is keep doing well in training, and in games for us, and then he has to make sure that if he does get cameo performances for the first team he does the right things."
“He travelled and was on the bench at Cambridge as well, and things like that will set him in good stead further down the line," he continued. "There are one or two first team lads coming back now, so if he is back with us at Wrexham on Friday he’ll have to get his head in the right place and perform at the levels he has been doing. The difference is that this time it'll be for us.
"We knew last year that he would be one of the lads who would have a chance and that he'd be pushing very close. It’s maybe happening a bit earlier than we would have thought, but it’s great for Liam."
“The next few weeks will be a good test for him as a character and he’s got to manage that himself," he told us. "He’s not the type to come back into our group and be any different. He’s a great lad and we have a good laugh with him.
"He’s very grounded, as are his family, and I speak to his dad a lot. Most of all he’s a good footballer with some good attributes, so provided he keeps his feet on the ground and keeps learning, he’s got a really good chance.
“Like I say, it’s great for the manager to come in and involve one of our boys in the first team set-up so early in the season. We’ve had a few seasons where that hasn’t happened, so it’s good for myself and Gav [Skelton] because it shows us that it isn’t a pointless job we’re doing.
"If the lads can see the pathway is there, it helps, because they want to learn and they want to be one of the players who is involved."
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