Evan Ferguson did not need much time to make a mark on the Premier League opening weekend.
After being propelled into the fray by Brighton on 78 minutes against Luton, the Republic of Ireland striker hit the post with a brilliant swivel and shot, before sliding in to score his first goal of the new season deep into stoppage time at the Amex Stadium.
Brighton manager Roberto De Zerbi was careful with the amount of game-time afforded to the 18-year-old Meath native ahead of a campaign that will feature the additional demands of Europa League football and continued in that vein by selecting Danny Welbeck and Joao Pedro in his starting line-up for Saturday.
And that management of Ferguson's workload, despite temptations to play him more often, is a sign of how the striker is in the right environment according to former Drogheda United and Shamrock Rovers defender Graham Gartland, who played with the youngster's father Barry.
"I think he's in good hands at the club and I think he's in good hands with the management he's with not to over-exert him. I think they're managing him really well," Gartland told the RTÉ Soccer Podcast.
As for his on-field performance in the short cameo on Saturday, Gartland and former Dundalk striker David McMillan continue to be impressed by his ability to carve out and plunder chances at Premier League level.
"The hunger he shows to score goals is amazing. It's what you want to see from your striker and what you want to see from any top centre-forward," said Gartland.
"His link-up play around the box is brilliant. At one stage I saw him rolling his foot over the ball, playing a slide-rule pass down the side and then he's making the box again.
"His confidence is really high and I spoke to Barry recently and (Evan) is taking it all in his stride from what I know and it's just one of those where he's just continuing to work hard and all the outside noise can go on around him and he's just making sure he's right."
McMillan felt the chance that he created for himself and hit the woodwork against Luton was arguably as big a highlight as the goal.
"To see him make that chance off his own bat was brilliant because the goal itself was what we've seen of him (by) getting on the end of things, really attack the box well, find space and have that instinct to know where the ball is going to fall," he said.
"The goal showed all of that but the turn and the shot, making something off his own bat, we've probably not seen as much of that from him and I think that's what caught the eye."
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