Rosenior cleans up on debut

Fulham's Liam Rosenior today revealed that he owes his exceptional Premiership debut against Manchester United to an afternoon of vacuum cleaning and dusting.

The 20-year-old, son of former Fulham striker Leroy, was so anxious to take his mind off the prospect of facing Ryan Giggs and Cristiano Ronaldo that he took to some winter cleaning yesterday afternoon.

He said: "I was a bit nervous before the game and I tried to take my mind off it by doing little things around the house - tidying up, cleaning and little things like that because if I had sat down and thought about it I would have been too frightened."

But there was no fear in Rosenior's display in the 1-1 draw, which won him the man-of-the-match award. He added: It's amazing to make my debut at the Cottage in front of my dad. It's a big club for the whole family and we have got loads of family friends who are Fulham through and through. From start to finish it was a joy to be out there. I said to myself before the game I'm just going to go out try my best and try to enjoy it, and luckily that's what happened.

"I don't expect to keep my place in the team. Moritz [Volz] is a top player, he has been in the German national team and it's up to the manager now. It was an unbelievable decision for him to put in someone like me in the first place. To show so much faith in me is something that I really admire in Chris Coleman."

Dad Leroy , who now manages Torquay United, was delighted with his son's display. "I am very proud of him, it was a tremendous debut," he said. "I haven't been back to the Cottage for about 12 years but I have got great memories from my time there and this was a good reason to go back. I'm not surprised at Liam's performance. I always thought it was only a matter of time. He needs to keep his feet on the ground now, which I know he will, but I'm really pleased for him because he's been through a hell of a lot.