Pep Guardiola hailed Liam Delap - son of former Carlisle United favourite Rory - after the teenager's stunning Manchester City debut.

The 17-year-old striker scored on his first senior outing in last night's Carabao Cup victory over Bournemouth.

It was a dream start to first-team life for the promising young forward, whose father, from Great Corby, was one of Cumbrian football's leading players of recent times.

Delap junior is rated very highly at City and Guardiola admitted he was pleased with his impact in the 2-1 victory at he Etihad Stadium.

"He’s a different striker to what we have in terms of physicality," said Guardiola.

"We see in training how good a finisher he is. Now he has to be calm and keep working.

"We are delighted with his performance - he played really well."

Delap, promoted to the side with Sergio Aguero injured and Gabriel Jesus rested, took just 18 minutes to get off the mark for City with a superb finish following a pass from Phil Foden.

Afterwards the teenager said: "I was buzzing, obviously, to get the call up - it was a dream come true. To top it with a goal, I can't ask for much more. 

"I'll probably be smiling for a couple of weeks."

He has been on City's books for over a year after moving from another of Rory's former clubs Derby County.

Delap is an Under-18 and Under-23s colleague of Cumbrian keeper James Trafford in the City ranks.

Guardiola confirmed the forward would remain in the first-team squad but said it was important to be patient with any young player such as Delap.

"The situation that we have right now is we have just 13 players available in the first team. We need players from the academy, not just in training sessions," Guardiola said.

"With the problems we have up front Liam will stay with us. We'll use him but we cannot forget like we spoke about Phil [Foden] in previous seasons - we want to speak quickly about him.

"He is just 17, he has a lot of things to improve. They need their own time, we cannot anticipate the process of each young player but like Phil and Eric [Garcia] and Tommy [Doyle] or Liam or Cole Palmer will be another exceptional player."

Rory Delap, 44, is a coach at Stoke City after a career that saw spells with Carlisle, Derby, Southampton, Sunderland, Stoke, Barnsley, Burton and 11 Republic of Ireland caps.

News and Star: Pictured in 2003, Rory Delap holds son Liam alongside wife Helen and his parents John and Maura (photo: Mike Scott / News & Star)Pictured in 2003, Rory Delap holds son Liam alongside wife Helen and his parents John and Maura (photo: Mike Scott / News & Star)