Ellery Balcombe’s two penalty saves helped Brentford progress to the third round of the Carabao Cup on Tuesday night.
The goalkeeper was surrounded by his team-mates after the final whistle against Newport County, before turning to the fans behind his goal and applauding the crowd.
“It felt amazing,” said Balcombe following his first competitive appearance for the Bees.
“I’ve been here a long time, since I was eight, so to finally get a debut, I can’t really describe the feeling. My mum was here so I’m delighted she was here to see that.”
Thomas Frank spoke of his confidence before the shootout with Balcombe in goal, a feeling the 23-year-old also experienced under the lights at Rodney Parade.
He said: “I definitely felt the same. I like to think I’m decent at penalties, so I was full of confidence going into the shootout.
“Kevin [O’Connor] was definitely part of it as well. Kev knew I was going to save a couple of penalties so going into it that just gave me even more confidence.”
This isn’t the first time the young stopper has experienced a game under the lights in Newport, with his most recent appearance coming on loan at Crawley Town in January this year.
“Every time I come here, they are good,” he said. “Today, they fought us all the way to the end and you have to give credit to them.
“The experience of playing here before definitely helped me tonight; I know what the fans are like and I know what the team is like to play against.
“This is what it is all about, I need to impress Thomas and see where we go from there.”