Carlton Cole has expressed his admiration for his young West Ham United team-mates after Tuesday's Carling Cup second-round victory over Millwall.
Junior Stanislas, 19, scored twice, while substitute Zavon Hines, 20, added the third goal in a 3-1 victory at the Boleyn Ground, while 17-year-old Frank Nouble also played an influential role in the Hammers' extra-time success.
Cole was full of praise for the trio, revealing that he had told Jamaican Hines that he would score after manager Gianfranco Zola sent him on as a half-time substitute.
"It's funny because, when Zavon Hines came on to the field at half-time, I said he was going to notch. I told him 'Listen, you're going to notch today'. I put him in once and he just screwed it wide. He finally got his goal. I was a bit aggravated that he didn't square it to me but he got the goal and I was so happy!
"He came up to me after the game and said 'Thanks for having belief in me' and I'm just happy. He's always got my faith because I know what he can do. In China, he scored a nice goal against Beijing and that's what the boy can do."
Stanislas had already scored twice when Hines struck, converting Julien Faubert's 87th-minute cross to send the game into extra-time before converting a penalty seven minutes into the extra half-hour.
Cole said the poise shown by both Stanislas and Nouble, who played a part in West Ham's equaliser, was testament to the skills of manager Zola and first-team coach Steve Clarke.
"Frank Nouble, when he came on, was brilliant. He was powerful and is a talent for the future as well. Obviously, working with Franco and Steve, he's going to improve and get better. It's funny to see that he's only 17 as well. Playing in such a turbulent match like that must have been intimidating for all the young boys coming on, but they did brilliantly.
"Junior Stanislas, as well, is a great talent. He's playing for England Under-21s as well so I've got so much admiration for him. He's coming through and scored a winning-goal penalty. He showed so much guts wanting to take it as well. I explained to him.
"I have so much admiration for these young boys. I've never seen anything like it. That's the kind of thing we've got going here, and it's obviously down to the manager and just shows you how much the young boys want to play for him."