Dara O’Shea says his league debut for West Bromwich Albion was the perfect early Christmas present.
The defender from Dublin, who made his debut for the Baggies in the Carabao Cup tie against Millwall back in August replaced Kyle Bartley early in the second half of Albion’s 1-1 draw with Brentford.
And O’Shea couldn’t hide his delight at one of the proudest moments of his career.
Dara said: “It’s the best Christmas present!”
“It was great. It’s been my aim since I signed for the Club to get in the first team after signing as a scholar. It’s a proud moment for me, I am just really glad and I am really happy to have finally made it.
“Slaven said just do your thing. Do what you have been doing the whole time. Go out and play your game. He said I am good enough to play so I am well able for it.
“I’m not going to lie I was a bit nervous. Coming on to make your league debut is a big thing. Having not been in the squad the last few weeks and then to be thrown in on the bench and come on and make my debut, it was great. I am buzzing.
“I said to myself I was going to come on and keep everything solid and keep the ball ticking and not try and do anything mad. First of all I am a defender so I just wanted to defend and show everyone that I can defend. I thought I did alright, obviously there is improvement to be made. For a debut it wasn’t bad.
“The lads have been congratulating me. They are a great bunch of lads here and they helped me through the game. It made it a lot easier.”
