Gillingham debutants special! Carter-Vickers, Nkoudou, Edwards and Walkes react

Wednesday night’s 5-0 victory over Gillingham in the third round of the EFL Cup was special for a lot of reasons – including the debuts of four players.

Talented 18-year-old centre-half Cameron Carter-Vickers made his first competitive appearance for us after being named on the bench a number of times of late while Georges-Kevin Nkoudou pulled on a Spurs shirt for the first time following his recent transfer from Marseille.

Academy stars Marcus Edwards and Anton Walkes also marked their respective bows off the bench in the second half.

All four were understandably in buoyant mood when we caught up with them after the game…

Cameron Carter-Vickers

On making his debut
“It’s a dream come true. I’ve been working hard for all these years to get to this stage so to play and win 5-0, it’s fantastic. I got a little nervous when I found out I’d be starting but I think that helped me. It kept me on my toes and it was good for me. Now I’m going to keep my head down, keep working hard at the training ground and try to push on.”

On his early chance from a header
“We’ve been working on corners in training and to get an opportunity like that in the first five minutes was good.”

On sharing the night with academy colleagues
“It’s fantastic and you could see when Josh Onomah scored, myself and Harry Winks were first over there to congratulate him. It’s good for Josh and great for us to see someone who we’ve played with for years score a goal at White Hart Lane. I’ve been with some of these lads for a while now, since I was 10 or 11. Everyone gets on, we all know each other really well and we all want each other to do well. You can look right the way through the academy, even to the younger ages and there is a lot of talent there. Especially with this manager, if you train hard, you’ll get an opportunity.”

Georges-Kevin Nkoudou

On his first Spurs appearance
“I’m very happy because I’ve come back from not playing for a long time so I really liked coming back to the pitch and feeling the atmosphere. It’s obviously my first game for Spurs and that makes me very happy, not only in a personal way but also in a collective way because we are through to the next stage of the cup.”

On the feeling of playing at White Hart Lane
“It was a very good atmosphere. It’s a cup game and all the fans were great. I was a bit surprised by the atmosphere but I enjoyed it a lot. I really liked playing alongside my new team-mates and hopefully now I can keep working hard and keep improving.”

Marcus Edwards

On getting the nod to come on
“I was itching to get on earlier! I kept looking at the bench to see if I was going to come on. I was excited. The other lads have been great as well – it’s like a family environment, we’re all friends and we all know each other personally. Now we’ve got (our chances), it only makes us hungrier for more.”

On his late run and shot
“A lot of things were going through my mind, perhaps I should have placed it but some you score and some you don’t. I just want to keep my head down and play football.”

Anton Walkes

On his senior debut
“It was a pleasure to get out there and get some minutes under my belt. It’s been tough this season so far but I have to keep pushing and pushing. Getting that experience today, playing in such a great team with my academy team-mates getting on and some even starting was unbelievable. I was so anxious (before coming on). I was doing my stretches, looking over, glancing and hopefully waiting for the nod.”

On the contrast from 6-2 defeat to Liverpool in Premier League 2 on Monday night
“It’s been a crazy week. It was hard to pick myself up on Tuesday morning after what happened against Liverpool but once I got the news that I was going to be in the squad I quickly got out of that and I was ready.”