Brian McDermott spoke of his delight at the performance of Alex Mowatt against Doncaster Rovers on Tuesday evening.

The 18-year-old, a former United Under-18s captain, made his professional debut on Tuesday evening and put in a performance beyond his years.

And the boss said that he had no problem with putting the youngster into the firing line during the Capital One Cup second round.

“You can’t make a statement like he looked out of place,” said the boss. “He was excellent against Doncaster.

“I had no worries about Alex playing whatsoever.

“From the day I first saw him Neil Redfearn had spoken about him, me and Nigel Gibbs had seen him play.

“We need to look after him because he is one of our own. He was absolutely excellent on Tuesday evening.”