Manchester United forward Shea Lacey lapped up accolades with an eventful cameo in the 3-2 Champions League win over AS Roma on Tuesday, 3 November, at Old Trafford.
The Englishman started the game on the bench, before replacing Amad in the 75th minute with his team trailing 2-1. In his 15 minutes on the pitch, the youngster split open the opposition defence time and again, registering 14 touches of the ball and a 100% passing completion.
He won four of his five duels and attempted four take-ons, three of which were successful. He also set up Matheus Cunha to score the all-important winner.
After the Brazilian got his marching orders following a second yellow card in the dying minutes of the game, Lacey even covered at right-back to help protect the lead. After the game, the Englishman opened up about playing in an unfamiliar position.
While Lacey was conducting an interview with MUTV after the game, Michael Carrick casually brought up the topic while walking past, referring to the youngster as the new right-back. The comment put a smile across the English forward's face, and he insisted that it was important for him to operate in the position to help see out the game. Lacey said: "It was new, I haven't done it before."
"But just to see games out like that, sometimes you've got to do those things and I thought it worked in the end, it worked well."
The 19-year-old also acknowledged that coming on to the cauldron that was Old Trafford and picking up a win was a special feeling. He added: "It was a special feeling, it's been a long time coming but it was good."
"It was amazing, the atmosphere in the second half, you could feel the momentum shift as soon as Bruno put the penalty away. You could feel it building and building and it [the winner] finally came and it was a special moment."
Lacey's recent rise has already caught the imagination of fans, with his love for United not going unnoticed amid the JJ Gabriel fiasco. The Englishman attacked the Scoreboard End in the game, the same side of the Theatre of Dreams where he had scored his first goal for the senior side against Brighton & Hove Albion earlier this season.
Speaking about it, the teenager joked: "Hopefully I keep shooting that way, it's going well that way so far." He already made his presence felt by picking up his first ever assist for the senior side, and it was a key moment in the context of the season as well.
United registered their first win in nine games across competitions this season, and there is a belief that Lacey's entry tilted the tide in United's favour in the game. Despite his impact, the youngster remains grounded.
When the interviewer suggested that he was a success story of the club's academy, Lacey was quick to point out: "[I'm] not yet [a success story of our Academy]. We're building towards it, it's going well. But nights like tonight definitely help. There's still a long way to go."
Lacey's cameo against Roma has already ignited calls to start him ahead of the misfiring Amad against Aston Villa on Sunday. If Carrick can be brave enough to trust the academy graduate, he could reap the rewards and strengthen his position before the international break.
