Beaming Freddie Anderson made a beeline for his dad Viv after scoring on his Stoke City debut – and found he was probably even happier than himself.

The 17-year-old centre-back was thrown into the starting XI at Carlisle United on Tuesday and made the breakthrough with a second-half header, watched on by nearly 900 travelling Stoke supporters including his family.

It was the perfect start to a career which saw him join Stoke’s youth team from Manchester City last summer – and he will have some going to match the record of his old man, who played nearly 600 league games for clubs including Nottingham Forest, Arsenal and Manchester United and picked up 30 England caps along the way.

“I spoke to him after the gaffer had given us a talking to after the game. He comes to every single game and he was delighted for me. Him and my brother are over the moon, probably happier than me to be honest.

“My dad gives me so much advice and you can’t really argue with him when he tells you something. He’s right 99 per cent of the time and he’s a great person for me to have in my corner. He’s so good for me and my career. He’s played the game, he’s come through so many different league games and has so much experience to pass on.”

He added: “People sometimes say that they’re lost for words but that’s genuinely how I feel. You lie in your bed the night before thinking, ‘Imagine if I score tomorrow…’ but then it did fall to me at the back post and it’s exactly what I dreamed about.

“I found out I was going to play either last Thursday or Friday. They gave me a little bit of notice, which is perfect because I didn’t want to be thrown in the deep end. They gave me enough time to prepare for it.