Australian striker Ben Folami was pleased with his performance as he made his league debut as a half-time sub in Monday’s 2-2 home draw with Millwall even if he didn’t mark the occasion with a goal.

“It felt great to get out there and do my thing to try and help the team,” he told the club site.

“I’ve been waiting for the chance since I started playing football and I’m glad as I think it went fairly well and I brought something to the game.

“At first I thought our first goal might be mine but I honestly had no idea — I don’t think anyone did!

“On a personal level it would have been great to score on my league debut but the only thing that really mattered was that the team got the goal.

GOAL-CAM 🎥 | If you thought footage from behind the goal would clear up who scored Town's first yesterday afternoon - you'd be wrong!

Watch as Ben Folami/Martyn Waghorn/an own-goal got #itfc back on level terms at Portman Road pic.twitter.com/XGI8K6cwz9– Ipswich Town FC (@Official_ITFC) April 3, 2018

“It was an amazing game to be involved in too. In the last 15 minutes it was like a basketball match because it was so end to end.

“I really enjoyed it and I’m grateful to Mick [McCarthy], TC [Terry Connor], [U23s coach] Gerard Nash, the other coaches and everyone that has helped me during my time at the club.”

Sydney-born Folami, whose only previous senior appearance was at Crystal Palace in the Carabao Cup in August, joined the academy as a full-time scholar in the summer of 2016 having spent time at Playford Road in previous school holidays.

Photo: TWTD

Edmundo added 19:34 - Apr 3 Good on ya, Ben. Blooding the youngsters? Maybe Mick is less mercenary and childish than he makes out in interviews. On this action, Mick's done good when there's little to be gained personally.
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Dissboyitfc added 19:35 - Apr 3 Looked a great prospect on yesterdays showing!
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Mark added 20:05 - Apr 3 With Garner and McGoldrick out for the season and Sears not having scored for about a year it makes total sense to give chances to the likes of Folami, Morris and Drinan who all score regularly for the U23s. I wish we could have seen a lot more of them this season.
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brittaniaman added 20:08 - Apr 3 W
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brittaniaman added 20:14 - Apr 3 What was the biggest surprise that Dino took a Defender off and put a striker on for the Second Half and by golly it worked !!!! With the lad coming on it seemed to have lifted the team ?? Good Luck to you Ben. more displays like that.
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itfchorry added 20:49 - Apr 3 Here's to a long and successful career at Ipswich
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Steelmonkey added 21:07 - Apr 3 Great debut Ben, but my thinking is that it wouldn't have happened if Nick Hammond from WBA hadn't been in the ground running some sort of rule over McCarthy. My god I'm starting to sound as cynical as he does.
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massivemole added 22:07 - Apr 3 Positive start, well done. Running at defenders, who would have thought that was a good thing to try. Mmmmmmmmm
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bobble added 23:10 - Apr 3 if he can get a few goals in the next games he might be off to the world cup,Australia needs young hungry strikers.
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harlingblue added 02:37 - Apr 4 He is a class act for the U23 team, works well with Morris. It was a great surprise to see MM give him a chance, but no surprise for us U23 supporters to see him nail it. There are some excellent young talented players bubbling under, many out on loan. Gerard Nash deserves great praise for what he has done with an U23 team that is always entertaining despite what players left at his disposal.

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1psw1ch added 09:46 - Apr 4 Nothing to lose at this stage of the season playing these kids ,,not going up ,,not going down ,,,looking forward to putting this season behind us now ,,,onwards and upwards now and no thx to alan pardew
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BlueBlood90 added 10:25 - Apr 4 Why not start him or Drinan/Morris for the remaining games. I'm sure they wouldn't go 40+ games without a goal like Sears has and it's a no pressure way of giving them experience in the first team. It's encouraging that we have these youngsters who look like they have something about them, it's just going to be difficult to find a manager brave enough to give them a proper chance.

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Pilgrimblue added 10:59 - Apr 4 I've been saying for ages that BF should've played along with others as having seen them in U23s etc they deserved a chance. Until he was injured Downes looked better than Skuse but hasn't been used since. I feel that loaning out to lower division doesn't work and that they lose faith and end up going nowhere. Name me one youth who's come back and challenged for 1st team. Too many like McDonnell never do although some eventually do well elsewhere. Too often our bench has looked underwhelming so time to get back our loans and give them a go.

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dirtydingusmagee added 13:49 - Apr 4 rightly should be pleased, WELL DONE .
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parkinshair added 23:52 - Apr 4 As much as I agree that you can't just chuck youngsters into the first team. Folami had an excellent half and caertainly made more impact than McGoldrick and Sears have done this season. It would have been nice to see Mick give the likes of Morris and Drinan a good half hour plus rather than five minutes at the end of a match. Yes it's raw talent, yes they will no doubt make mistakes, but with nothing to play for, at least give them a chance to play at senior level.

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