Cardiff City turned to 17 year old prodigy Adam Matthews to solve their full-back injury crisis on Tuesday evening.
The youngster who is a 2nd year Apprentice at the Club was drafted in by Manager Dave Jones after Paul Quinn was ruled out through injury.
It was his first ever start for the Club and despite picking up a booking in a feisty first half, he came through unscathed and helped the Bluebirds to record a 3-1 victory at Plymouth Argyle.
Speaking after the game to the South Wales Echo a delighted Dave Jones commented:
“It was a hard-earned win, a good team performance in every area. During the first half we were absolutely superb. We caused Plymouth problems with our movement and passing. In the second half they bombarded us, but we stood firm.”
Singling out individuals for praise, Jones was clearly pleased with the contributions of Michael Chopra and Jay Bothroyd but he also reserved a word for debutant Matthews;
“Adam Matthews made his debut and he did well. We knew 12 months ago that we had a player in Adam, the question was how quickly he would progress.”
The youngster who follows in Chris Gunter’s footsteps is another success of the Cardiff City production line and Academy Manager Neal Ardley believes his young charge is ready to deal with whatever is thrown at him at First Team level.
“Adam is a solid defender with pace and athleticism, he has already shown in training that he can handle being around the first team so it was pleasing to see him rewarded by the Gaffer with a debut on Tuesday evening.”
