U.S. youth international Cameron Carter-Vickers described his Tottenham Hotspur debut as a "dream" but hopes it will be the first of many appearances for the club.
Carter-Vickers, 18, was tipped to become "one of the best centre-backs in England in the future" by Mauricio Pochettino before playing 90 minutes in Spurs' 5-0 EFL Cup win against Gillingham on Wednesday, and he was happy to contribute to the win.
"It's a dream come true," Carter-Vickers told Spurs TV after the match. "I've been working hard for all these years so to get to this stage and play, and to win 5-0 is a dream.
"The heart raced a little bit [when I knew I was playing]. I got a little bit nervous. It keeps me on my toes and it's good for me.
"Hopefully it's the first of many [appearances]. I just need to keep my head down on the training ground and keep working and push on."
Carter-Vickers was one of three debutants in Wednesday's match, along with fellow teenage academy graduates Marcus Edwards and Anton Walkes, while Harry Winks made his first Spurs start and Joshua Onomah scored his first goal for the club.
Our three debutants after a night they will never forget... #COYS pic.twitter.com/Hl8rNB00s1
- Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) September 21, 2016
"It's fantastic," added the U.S. under-20 international, the son of former NBA player Howard "Hi-C" Carter. "I think you can see when Josh scored that myself and Harry Winks were the first to run over and congratulate him. It was good for him as well to see someone you've played with for years score a goal at White Hart Lane.
"We've been together for a while now, since we were 10 or 11. We know each other really well.
"You can look all through the academy, there's a lot of talent all through the ages. There's more to come, especially with this manager. If you train well and hard, you'll get your opportunity."
League One side Gillingham rarely threatened, leaving centre-back Carter-Vickers untroubled, but he almost made his mark after two minutes, heading narrowly wide from Christian Eriksen's corner.
"We've been working on the corners in training. To get an opportunity like that in the first couple of minutes was good," he said.