Our U18s midfielder featured for Neill Collins' side on Tuesday night in Carabao Cup action.
Fresh from a successful campaign with the U18s side, Vimal Yoganathan has had experience of training with the first team in pre-season and has impressed the senior coaching staff.
A tall, central midfielder, the 17-year-old replaced Herbie Kane on 65 minutes to become the latest addition to the Reds Alumni - a moment he has worked towards since stepping through the door at Oakwell.
"Yeah, it was a bit surreal," the Sri Lankan described. "I'm still pinching myself now. It was a good experience. I'm just grateful that the gaffer had faith in me and all the staff to be able to trust me to make my debut. It was a good experience.
"It was definitely a lot different compared to academy football. They were obviously a good side, Tranmere, but I feel like as young lads as well, it's not our starting team. We showed good character to keep persistent, carry on going and we obviously showed with the goal in the end. Obviously, unfortunate not to win on pens, but that's how football is."
It is a busy time for Yoganathan, as our U18s and U21s sides prepare for the start of their respective campaigns, with Vimal set to feature heavily across both sides during the season.
Nicky Eaden's young Reds begin with a trip to Bristol City U18s on Friday 11 August, kicking off at 2pm.
"We obviously had a good game against Lincoln City, winning 9-3 (in a friendly last week)," he discussed. "We want to win. Put ourselves forward and show that we can repeat what we did last year. So hopefully, we show that on Friday.
"We want to set standards high, we want to make sure that we're doing as well as we can. We set the standards for ourselves. There's not much more we can do other than meet them."
The full, exclusive interview with Vimal is now available on iFollow Barnsley!
