FURD
Sheffield United manager Kevin Blackwell praised the performance of debutant Kyle Walker in the 4-1 Third Round FA Cup win at Leyton Orient.
"He showed today some real quality, and hit a terrific ball in for Greg Halford's second goal. He's only learning the game and I'm not going to rush him too much. We'll see, but tonight Kyle has put down his marker"
Kyle, a local Sharrow lad who was recommended to United by FURD coaches Paul Archer and Luis Silva after being spotted as a seven year-old at a Saturday morning FURD coaching session at Abbeydale Grange School playing fields, made his first-team Blades debut at right back.
FURD project director Howard Holmes travelled down to East London to see Kyle's performance, and commented:
"Kyle was put under a lot of pressure in the first half by Orient - it seemed they were deliberately seeking to unsettle him due to it being his first game - but he grew in stature as the game progressed.
He made several surging runs down the right in the second half, winning corner after corner. Kyle's lovely long cross to set up the fourth goal capped a very promising debut. Everyone at Football Unites is very proud that he's broken through, and we're now hoping to see Ayman Tahar and Liban Abdi follow in Kyle's footsteps. He is an inspiration to the hundreds of young players that we coach each year".