Jay Stansfield couldn’t hide his joy after scoring his first senior goal in some style as Fulham beat Birmingham to reach the third round of the League Cup tonight.
The teenage striker, who saw his encouraging first year at Fulham cruelly curtailed by a serious ankle injury, was handed a start by Marco Silva at St. Andrew’s and responded by firing the visitors in front with a fine strike into the top corner midway through the first half. Stansfield, whose performance as the lone striker belied his tender age, told Fulham FCTV tonight:
“It was brilliant. I couldn’t asked for a better senior full debut, to be honest. Starting the game and then scoring a goal like that – I can’t explain the feeling! I made my debut two years ago now and having that time out put a halt on everything really. To be able to recover and come up here and score my first goal – there’s no better feeling than doing that.”
Stansfield revealed that Fulham’s senior players played a key part in helping the club’s young players settle on a big night, with Adrion Pajaziti also making his debut in midfield this evening.
“The boys were brilliant at helping me, Ty and Adrion, encouraging us and making us confident. I felt all the players played well, worked hard and got us the win.”
The striker paid tribute to Fulham’s category one academy that has seen several youngsters – like Tyrese Francois and Fabio Carvalho – take serious strides forward over the summer
“It’s brilliant that it’s not just you there. The pressure is not just on you when there’s a couple of academy lads there. It just shows what a good academy we have with other lads coming through. The manager giving us this opportunity on a stage like this tonight and us performing – it’s brilliant.”
I think it’s good for our academy,but their is a question mark why previous managers did not do this earlier as some players slipped the net, only sess was really given a chance.
What a goal for Jay, well done lad!!! Just one player from the last sarting eleven, well done Marco. COYW
Indeed great goals. Could have been 3-0 . Great for young Jay . Good to see Rodak . Silva creating a winning mentality . Strong back up team there .
Another win. Marco Silva is giving the young players a chance, which was very rare under Scott Parker. If they don’t play, then the club will not know the full extent of their ability . Some will make it and others will fall by the wayside. Jay Stansfield certainty falls into the plus category. Rodak in goal, let us hope he stays there against Stoke. It was also nice to see Odoi given the captains armband for this match. A reward as he is Fulham man through and through and in my opinion , he is still a good back up player due to his versatility across the back four