Ebbsfleet United manager Steve Brown was full of praise for Karn Miller-Neave after the 16-year old academy player scored a superb free-kick in his side’s 7-1 FA Cup demolition of Hythe Town.
With the game already sewn up at 4-0 thanks to goals from Matt Godden, who eventually scored a hat-trick, and Charlie Sheringham, Brown brought on Miller-Neave for his professional debut.
The left-back soon showed his talent with a 20-yard curler into the top corner, leaving the boss delighted.
Brown said: “I watch the youth team train every afternoon and I went down to Folkestone on Thursday night, where he scored a goal from a free-kick in a very similar position.
“He also got two assists from a wide free-kick and a corner.
“I’m fully aware of what all the youth team players can do.
“Karn obviously has the physical issues of a player coming into the first team at the age of 16, so we were hoping he wouldn’t be overpowered and he certainly wasn’t.
Miller-Neave is congratulated by his team-mates
“He looked calm and composed, so I told Daryl McMahon to let him have a strike if we had a free-kick around the edge of the box.
“I’ve got to be honest, it’s probably one of the best free-kicks we’ve seen since I’ve been down here.”
He added: “It was a wonderful strike from Karn and it’s one of those moments in football that brings a smile to your face.
“He’s in there absolutely high as a kite and buzzing at the moment.
“You always hope to be in a position where you can put a 16-year old in and blood him slowly but surely.
“We probably won’t see Karn at Farnborough next week, but today I had seven subs so I was able to blood him in.
“It’s great experience for him and he’s shown me that nothing fazed him.”
The manager was pleased Fleet made a quick start in the Hythe cup tie, with Godden scoring his first goal of the season inside 90 seconds.
Brown said: “We were red hot favourites and I think I said leading up to this game that in every round there’s always upsets and teams that, on paper, are banana skins that you have to get past - today we had to get past Hythe.
“I’ve watched them play and Steve Gritt has seen them play, so we knew they were energetic and busy.
“What I said to the players was to make sure we started like we normally start in a league game, which is high tempo and putting the opposition under pressure in order to get an early goal and settle everyone down.
“The longer the game went on as 0-0, the more Hythe would come into it and people would become restless.
“We didn’t want that, so the early goal was crucial in how the game panned out.”
Brown was also delighted to see his attackers all chip in, although he also singled out Godden for praise after a slow start to the campaign from him.
Matt Godden
The Stonebridge Road chief said: “I’ve said several times that I trust the strikers to get goals.
“There were question marks after three or four games and things being said to me that I didn’t appreciate, but I’ve always known they’ll score goals.
“Matt Godden, Charlie Sheringham and Billy Bricknell are good players that will always score goals.
“Matty’s has taken a little longer to come than we would have like but he’s an out-and-out finisher and he works his socks off.
“Even when his goals aren’t free-flowing, you still get a tremendous work rate out of him.
“He’s a brilliant lad in terms of his professionalism around the dressing room, as he wants to improve and be better.
“I’ll always back those kinds of players and today he’s got three, so hopefully that will move on into league goals.”
The Fleet now return to league action with a trip to Farnborough on Saturday.
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