Kim Hellberg's Middlesbrough advice for striker Cruz Ibeh

The 17-year-old, who has been on Boro's books since he was an Under-9, was introduced with 10 minutes to play at Craven Cottage, a moment he says he'll never forget.

Hellberg has been impressed by Ibeh since his arrival as head coach in November and described the striker as a "very talented boy", who he believes will benefit enormously from his taste of action against Premier League opposition.

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He said: "He has been training with us.

"He has a lot of quality. He's young so we wanted to get him this taste, playing against Premier League centre-backs and to learn from it.

"It was a good chance to give an opportunity to a young player from our own academy and he'll now train even harder to get more chances."

Hellberg now hopes Ibeh uses his first team debut as a springboard.

He said: "He’s a good player. He has a good possibility to be a good player for Boro.

"This was more about giving him an opportunity to play against Premier League defenders for 10-15 minutes. Now he must grow from it, go back and use it as energy to train even harder, train even better.

"I think those 10 minutes will give him a lot of experience. And because of us being short in that position for the moment with the injuries, that was a good chance to give him some minutes, to invest in his future, and then he has to grow from it. That would be the key thing for him."

Ibeh only made his Under-21s debut for Boro earlier this season.

After Saturday's game, the youngster posted on Instagram:  "Forever grateful to make my professional debut for my boyhood club. A moment I'll never forget."