Omer Riza has praised a "superb" debut display by Cardiff City teenager Dylan Lawlor at Aston Villa and said the calibre of his performance surprised him.
The 19-year-old started at centre back against a front four of internationals - Marcus Rashford, Marco Asensio, Leon Bailey and Ollie Watkins - at Villa Park and did not look out of place one bit.
Lawlor through himself to block shots and even beat Rashford in one foot race before sliding in and dispossessing him - a challenge which got the 6,000 away supporters off their feet and roaring. He certainly looks to have taken to senior football like a duck to water and now presents Riza with a very viable option in an area of the pitch in which they are light.
"He was superb," Riza said after the 2-0 FA Cup defeat. "He surprised me a little bit today with some of the things he did.
"I know he is a good-quality player and in possession he is really good, but I thought defensively, his positioning and his intelligence, his one-v-one duelling at times, was good. I'm really pleased for Dylan, he's had a great debut, with Perry (Ng) and Dimi (Goutas) either side of him which helped him - and it's a great start to his career at senior level.
"We have had Jesper's (Daland) injury, Will (Fish) hasn't played loads of minutes and he's again played two 90s in a row, Dimi was suspended, we have had a few difficulties in that position, so it's a good option to have.
"Joel Bagan and Perry can fill in - but it's just nice for him. We had eight or nine Welsh boys in the squad today, which was really pleasing for me. Our average age is young at the moment, 24, 25, players we brought in in January are young as well. Things are looking up and we have to keep pushing forwards."
On the game itself, Riza said: "I'm obviously disappointed we didn't get a result, but it is Aston Villa, they are a Premier League side and they are in the Champions League. They put out a very strong side today in the FA Cup. Sign up to our daily Cardiff City newsletter here.
"We had a game plan to stop them and frustrate them and to play forwards early and score goals - we did that well to a certain extent, until the two moments we switched off. But it's good quality play from them and maybe we were a bit tired and then there was two goals from (Marco) Asensio.
"We showed really good focus throughout the game and that defensive focus is something we have to take with us into the league. They have proved they can do it. The setup might be different against Championship opposition, but I'm proud.
"At half time, going in at 0-0, we needed to drop in and deal with it better, but just before their goal we had the opportunity, Yousef (Salech) got across someone and didn't quite get enough on the ball. If you score that it's 1-0 and the home fans get frustrated and they open up more and you find another chance. But they were worthy winners."
Of course, there was potential for the game to get away from Cardiff, but their best player on the night kept them in it.
Goalkeeper Ethan Horvath made half a dozen top-class saves to keep the scoreline down and Cardiff in with a chance of upsetting the odds until Asensio's double, flying left, right, high and low to keep numerous shots out throughout the course of the tie.
"He was brilliant," Riza said of his goalkeeper. "He has had to show real patience and a great character and application throughout the season and the frustrations. We have always been talking, because he's had to wait for his chance because Jak (Alnwick) has had a really good season.
"Jak is now injured, so he has played the last couple and he was superb. Credit to him and he deserves the accolades he gets this evening".
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More than 6,000 supporters travelled from south Wales and sang their hearts out all match, in support of not only the players but manager Riza, too.
"They were brilliant," he said of the Bluebirds supporters. "My staff were telling me to do the ayatollah, because I was so focused on the game!
They were loud, happy, cheering, hopefully it was a good moment for them, to come on a trip to Villa, watch the game and hopefully we gave a good account of ourselves against a top side, a Champions League side."
