This performance had been a long time coming for Wilson Odobert and few people were more excited than Ange Postecoglou.
Wednesday night's match against Manchester City brought the Frenchman's first start for Tottenham since the Carabao Cup tie at Coventry in September. In fact it was only his third start since arriving at Spurs for £30million from Burnley the previous month.
For plenty has happened for Odobert since he signed on the dotted line for the north London club. He was a 19-year-old when he joined the Premier League club but a hamstring injury in that game at the Ricoh Arena was followed by an ill-fated return off the bench the following month against AZ Alkmaar in the Europa League.
Something did not feel right on his return and Odobert required hamstring injury. There were some fears within the club that he might play little part in the remainder of the season, so serious was the damage.
However, Odobert recovered well and with the acceleration he often shows on the pitch. He eventually returned to the grass at Hotspur Way, but Spurs took it cautiously with him after his previous false dawn.
He trained for a number of weeks before being fully exposed to full training and then any involvement in a matchday squad.
That finally came this month, with Odobert, now 20, coming off the bench for a handful of minutes against Manchester United and then a little bit more time at Ipswich. Then on Wednesday night it was decided by Postecoglou and the staff that he was ready to start, five months after his initial hamstring injury.
Odobert's performance was as many might have expected. In the first half he was rusty and tentative in his play, but as the game wore on and he felt he could trust his body more, so the winger began to feel and look like the Odobert that Tottenham signed.
He came roaring out of the traps for his 22 minutes in the second half. Matheus Nunes struggled to deal with the flying Frenchman as he either dribbled past him down the flank or cut inside, as comfortable on either foot.
The young winger could have got on the scoresheet to mark the occasion, but slid one shot wide of the left-hand post from Pedro Porro's whipped-in cross and he sent another effort deflected off target after a jinking run past various City challenges.
"I thought he was great," said Postecoglou. "It was important tonight that him, Destiny [Udogie] and Brennan [Johnson] got some minutes. Again, it’s one thing to get guys back from injury but we have got to get them up to speed as quickly as we possibly can.
"You could see Wilson hasn’t played for a while but you could also see the quality that he has. I think he grew into the game in the second half. I thought he was a big catalyst at the beginning of the second half when he was running at the opposition.
"He is an exciting player and if we can manage him through this period and get him to a really decent level of fitness, I'm sure he will help us finish the season strong."
Odobert has a big fan in Postecoglou and when he signed from the Championship in August, the Australian had no hesitation in throwing him straight into the next starting XI against Everton.
When asked what he had seen in training that week that made him hurl the teenager into the fray, the Spurs boss said on that August day: "Well, what you saw out there. It's just really exciting.
"I was excited by the way he went about things. He always wants to take his opponent on, you know, even if he hasn't been successful, he goes at him again and this is a 19-year-old playing for his new club in front of 60,000 people, and just played football the way he wants to play it, and I love that about him.
"He got tired in the second-half, but it’s really exciting for us that another young player comes in that is going to make us a better team.”
He added: "He's different from our other wingers. He goes at his opponent and, you know, even if he wasn't successful, he went at him again and I think that's exactly why we bought him to the club. I mean, he's 19-years-old, his first game for his new club at home in front of 60,000. Yeah, really exciting."
The key for Odobert as he looks to make up for lost time will be to add an end product to his undoubted dribbling ability and direct play.
He has the ability to be devastating and carve teams apart, but so far his 74 senior matches in England and France have brought just nine goals and five assists. There is of course his age to take into account when it comes to those numbers, but his skillset deserves more. That is something Postecoglou is excited to work with him on.
Wilson Odobert has become something of an unseen, forgotten man this season but he's got the talent and the time to burst back into the spotlight for Spurs now and for the foreseeable future.
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