Jacob Greaves spoke of his immense pride after making his Hull City debut in the EFL Trophy defeat to Leicester City U21s.
The 19-year-old was one of seven debutants for the Tigers in their opening match of Northern Group H, which the Foxes won courtesy of a dubious last-minute penalty.
The Cottingham-born centre-back was disappointed by the result but delighted to make his first senior appearance in black and amber.
“To pull the shirt on for the first time in a competitive match, I was immensely proud,” said Greaves, who has been with the Club since the age of eight. “It was a little bit of a whirlwind at first, putting the shirt on, but once I stepped onto the pitch I was fine. Luckily enough, I did OK.
“Everyone was disappointed at the end of the game because we felt we didn’t deserve that at all. A point was probably fair. Go to penalties, see what happens for the extra point. I didn’t think it was a penalty but that’s football. People make decisions and unfortunately for us, we didn’t get the points.”
In making his Tigers debut, the defender followed in the footsteps of his father, Mark Greaves, who made the first of his 204 City appearances back in October 1996.
“My dad’s brilliant – he doesn’t put any pressure on me,” said Jacob. “He’ll talk to me about football if I want to talk about football. He’ll ask me how training has been and he tells me a few little stories about his time at Hull.
“The other day, he showed me his goal back at Exeter, away from home, which he said was his best goal. It was a little simple finish – I thought it was going to be a worldie!
“It’s brilliant having him as a person I look up to. I’ll talk to him about the game, what I can do better and I watch my clips with him. He’s brutally honest with me – he doesn’t beat around the bush. It’s great to have someone like that as my dad.”
The former Cheltenham loanee is hoping his Leicester outing will be the first of many for his hometown club.
“The gaffer’s said if he sees you doing things right in training and things right in the games, he’ll put you in,” Greaves added. “That’s got to be down to your own doing. There’s Jordy [de Wijs], Reece [Burke], Sean [McLoughlin], Alfie [Jones] – they’re all good centre-halves.
“I’ve got to keep my head down, keep working hard and hopefully I can get the chance. And when it comes, try to cement my place in the team, which is going to be the plan moving forward.”