The domestic cup competitions in this country often brings golden opportunities to see rising youth stars come into senior squads and get minutes.
And this was the case for Chelsea yesterday as they faced non league side Chesterfield in the FA Cup.
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There was a chance for 17-year old Lewis Hall from the academy to slot in for his senior team debut, and the lad was absolutely fantastic.
He came in and looked assured, mature, and like he had been playing in this team for many years.
As you can imagine, he was a bag of nerves when he got the call to say he was starting the match and even says he was physically shaking.
But a sign of his clear maturity was coming through that, composing himself, getting up for the game and then going on to play 90 minutes and be one of the best players on the pitch.
“Ever since I was a kid here at Chelsea, this is what I’ve worked towards so to finally get the opportunity is an amazing feeling and to do it in front of my family and all the fans here at Stamford Bridge is just incredible,” Hall said via the Chelsea website.
“I found out I was starting during the day. We had a meeting where the manager announced the starting 11 and I was really nervous straight away.
“As soon as I saw my name on the team sheet, I was shaking and everything. I had to take a couple of hours to process it.”
