Darren Patterson is a great believer in playing youngsters - if they are good enough - but he has emphasised that he will only blood them at the right time.

Some people might have expected Alex Fisher (pictured) to come on slightly earlier than he did against Northwich Victoria last Saturday, but Patterson and his assistant Mickey Lewis chose the moment carefully.

The former Abingdon School pupil replaced Kieron St Aimie in the 79th minute, and made his mark by setting up the clinching third goal for fellow substitute Eddie Anaclet with a good cross from the left.

It was Fisher's first "assist" for a goal in the first team, and Patterson said he was thrilled for the lad.

"I'm very pleased for him. I'm a great believer in 'if you're good enough, you're old enough.' "But we'll look after them as well, and look carefully at when to play them and when to take them out. We also need men alongside them to help them."

'Fish', as he's known, has his feet firmly on the ground, but he thoroughy enjoyed the special buzz that comes with the FA Cup.

He said straight after the game: "It's a great experience coming off the bench in the first team and it's great to be involved and to assist in helping us get through to the next round.

"Northwich were putting a lot of pressure on, but that third goal killed them off with five minutes to go."

So what was he told when he went on?

"The instructions to me were to work as hard as I can, close the ball down and just try to keep it in their half really."

Fisher is only 17, but he has already experienced two very diffferent dressing-room moods, with the euphoria of the Cup victory in marked contrast to nine days earlier at Rushden.

"The atmosphere in the dressing room was in stark contrast to last Thursday, where everyone was very quiet," he said. "Especially after the game, it was much more talkative, everyone was buzzing.

"Before the match it was a bit tense, but afterwards we are all relaxed and everyone is just enjoying it."

Fisher knows that he is a long way off being even in the same league as fellow 17-year-old Jordan Rhodes, who looked an outstanding young player during his month on loan from Ipswich, but he believes having Patterson as manager can only help his development.

"I was a schoolboy when he was youth team manager and he really nurtured me and helped me find my feet," he said.

"So I've got a lot of faith in him, and I've got a lot of faith in him that he can get this club a lot higher than it is now."

And the teenage striker is happy to accept the coaches' decision on when to throw him into first-team action.

"They've eased me into it and that's fine," he said.

"If I was to start without having any experience then I would probably be at sixes and sevens, but with 20 minutes here, ten minutes there it really will help to get my confidence up and hopefully I can just build on that."