Ben Doak's record-breaking debut for Scotland's under-21s came as no surprise to his international manager Scot Gemmill, as the Liverpool youngster continued his impressive start to the season with a fine display during the 3-1 victory over Northern Ireland.
Doak, who made the move from Scottish giants Celtic to Anfield earlier this year for a fee of £600,000, has wasted no time in impressing those at the club's Kirkby-based academy as he's been a standout performer for the young Reds both domestically and in the UEFA Youth League.
Having already fired four goals for his new club, including the winner against Napoli U19s earlier this month, the 16-year-old was rewarded for his excellent form with a promotion to Scotland's U21s side for the first of their back-to-back friendlies against Northern Ireland this week.
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The attacker was given his debut for Gemmill's side after 31 minutes, having initially started on the substitutes' bench as forward Lewis Neilson was forced off with a hamstring injury, and found the net just seven minutes later with a trademark drive into the box before coolly finding the back of the net.
Though for his manager, who had the privilege of working with Doak for the first time during this week's camp, his impressive performance wasn't at all surprising.
"I've seen Ben play so I wasn't surprised at what he can do," said Gemmill after the victory. "He's really exciting. I wasn't surprised, but it is always good to see it happen. There were good things and there were things that we know we need to correct.
"There was a bit of everything. The new players needed to take their opportunities because there are no guarantees in the future.
"I told them that before the game. They had to show what they can do. They have to go and show they can be trusted and are willing to do the work.
"I thought their application was good. Of course, there were things in the game that we need to fix and we can help them with and we will."
Doak became Scotland's second youngest player to appear at the U21 level, with former Chelsea and Celtic prodigy Islam Feruz's record of 16 years, seven months and 15 days still unbroken. Though the Liverpool man did become the youngest scorer for the side, and such a feat could see him rewarded with a start in the second instalment of the clash with the Green and White Army on Sunday afternoon.
It is expected that Doak will pen professional terms with Liverpool upon turning 17 in November, in what will be the latest milestone of his exciting career thus far.
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