Hartlepool United manager Kevin Phillips full of pride after pair of academy graduates make their league debuts in win over Aldershot Town
Hartlepool United boss Kevin Phillips hailed a proud day for a pair of academy products after Campbell Darcy and Alfie Steel made their league debuts in Saturday's 2-0 win over Aldershot.
Darcy, who signed a professional deal in December alongside fellow youth team graduate Louis Stephenson, replaced Callum Cooke while 6'3'' striker Alfie Steel came on for Mani Dieseruvwe as Pools secured a second successive home league win.
It was also a memorable afternoon for midfielder Max Storey, who featured in the squad for the first time, and the recent surge in talented youngsters coming through suggests the future is bright at Pools.
And Phillips was full of pride for the teenagers after his side made all but mathematically certain of survival in the National League with an impressive victory over a play-off chasing Shots.
"I said to them, 'enjoy this, it's a fantastic achievement,'" he told BBC Radio Tees.
"I said to the kit man 'can they have their shirts?' and he said 'maybe at the end of the season.'"
"I said 'they're having it now, even if I have to buy them two new shirts.'"
"It's a big moment in their career, it was only yesterday that I told them they were involved.
"They've had not even 24 hours to process it.
"They never let me down when they came on, they're good players and it just goes to show we've got a very good youth system here.
"I'm extremely pleased."