Newcastle United teenager Dylan Stephenson was still very much on cloud nine today in Riyadh after scoring his first senior goal in the 5-0 rout of Al-Hilal.
Stephenson had only played a few seconds of a friendly game against Atalanta before last night when Eddie Howe afforded him 13 minutes in the high profile Diriyah Season Cup match in Saudi Arabia. But if ever a young player grabbed his chance to impress in front of all the right people it was the kid from Blyth.
The youngster was signed from Blyth Spartans at the age of 14 and has never looked back since after scoring in the youth ranks and Under-21s. But last night was a huge opportunity for the Academy product and he took it with both hands.
