SAM Wedgbury admitted to having a butterflies-in-the-stomach moment when Nick Colley tweaked his hamstring again.

Colley pulled up after scoring Worcester City's second goal in the effortless 7-0 FA Cup romp over Bemerton Heath Harlequins. He needed replacing.

Alternative options were available for manager Andy Preece, but cometh the moment, cometh the teenager.

Nerves are never far away for footballers making competitive debuts. For fresh-faced 16-year-olds, those nerves must seem tenfold.

But as first appearances goes, fledgling midfielder Wedgbury played a blinder.

Every intended pass, short and long, found the feet of a City colleague. When a tackle was needed, he was there to throw a boot in.

And then there was his goal. Picking up the ball outside the penalty box, the boy with bleached Kevin Pietersen-style streaks in his hair showed all the confidence to slam a 20-yarder into the far corner.

"I really enjoyed it," said Wedgbury. "I called for the ball and Liam McDonald laid it back for me.

"I took it out of my feet and struck it. It just went in. It was the perfect goal for my debut.

"It was a good debut and I'm happy with it. I went out there to see what I could do and I had a decent game.

"The gaffer told me to enjoy it and I quickly relaxed and tried to get on the ball as much as I could.

"When Nick came off, my nerves were going a little bit. I owe a lot to the gaffer for giving me a chance because he could have put Jimmi-Lee Jones on.

"It was a bonus for me, although I know I've still got a lot to do.

"No disrespect to them (Bemerton), but we weren't playing the best of sides."

The Oldbury-based teenager recognises that his first taste of senior action follows an impressive start to life in Worcester's successful youth-team.

Wedgbury, a first-year youngster at City's academy, is learning the tools of the trade under the tutorship of youth development officer Ray Woods and assistant Mark Owen.

Wedgbury added: "I've only been at Worcester for two and a half months, so I owe a lot to Ray and Mark. They've both supported me.

"I always like to get on the ball and that's something Ray and Mark have taught me. They tell me to be eager all the time and to get on the ball.

"That is what I was doing in the game.

"I tried to get on it as much as possible and getting into the right areas, opening up my body and spraying the ball about."

Wedgbury admits he would like to follow in the footsteps of Shabir Khan and McDonald, who both made the progression from youth team to senior XI, and time is on his side.

He said: "I still haven't achieved anything yet. I'm back in training with the academy and I've just got to get my head down and work hard.

"That's all I can do really, I'm still young. If I get on the pitch again for the first team, I'll be happy with that. I'll take whatever comes my way."