Sixteen-year-old defender Max Sutton made his Maidstone United first-team debut yesterday having progressed all the way through from the under-8s.

Sutton came on during the second half of the Stones’ 3-0 friendly win over Ramsgate at the Gallagher Stadium.

The teenager was recommended to manager Hakan Hayrettin by Simon Austin, joint-boss of the club’s under-23 development team.

Hayrettin invited him along to training and saw enough to give him a run-out against the Rams.

“We were quite impressed with him in training,” said Hayrettin.

“We’ve brought him in, he’s comfortable on the ball, he’s a good size, got good composure and we want to try and enhance that reputation.

“I think he has something, it’s up to him how far he wants to develop.

“You can be overawed when you come into a first-team environment but he handled it really well and there’s three or four who’ve done that.

“Perri Iandolo, Jack Mayhew today played right-back, so we’re always open to looking at players within our club if they’re good enough to play.

“For them it’s a journey, they’ve got to get on the train and go with the ride and hopefully they’ll get better as it goes along.”

Hayrettin stressed the opportunity is there for the club’s young players to force their way into the first-team picture.

He added: “If they’re better than what we’ve got, why not?

“Last season we played Jordan Tingley, we’ve got no problem playing anyone from the 23s if they’re good enough, or even from the youth team.”

Tony Birchard, Maidstone's head of Kent Youth League football, congratulated Sutton after the game, adding: "It's very rewarding to see the progression from our youth to 18s, 23s and now first team."

Ibby Akanbi scored twice, with Ibrahim Olutade also on target in a comfortable win for the Stones against their Isthmian South East opponents.

Maidstone are back in friendly action on Tuesday with an away game against Watford under-23s.

Read more: The latest sports news in Kent