Liam McAlinden has mixed feelings on Wolves debut

The Cannock born-and-bred Northern Ireland Under-21 international realised a boyhood dream when he came on as a 69th-minute replacement for Stephen Hunt in Saturday's 2-1 defeat to Burnley.

But despite setting up the late reply for fellow sub Nouha Dicko, defeat looks like sentencing Wolves to a second successive relegation.

The 19-year-old striker said: "It was great for me to come on and make my debut. It was a good experience, but the circumstances weren't great.

The defeat and the consequences of it were horrible to see. It hurt as a fan, but it was even worse as a player."

In contrast to the club's fortunes, McAlinden has made real progress this season.

After signing a new contract in January, the home-grown academy graduate committed himself to the club to 2015.

That was reward for being the top scorer in academy football in the group stages of the league, averaging almost a goal every game.

He was further rewarded with promotion to join first-team training in recent weeks under manager Dean Saunders.

McAlinden said: "It's been a fantastic experience to be able to train with the first-team lads.

"It's brought me on a lot as a player and I have been able to learn from them.

"The boss had a great career as a striker, and he's always joining in with shooting practice in training – he's taught me a lot."

McAlinden followed in the footsteps of fellow academy graduates such as Danny Batth, David Davis, Anthony Forde, Johnny Gorman and Jack Price to have made it all the way to the first team in recent seasons.

And, despite the current troubled times at Molineux, he is determined to carve a future for himself at Wolves.

He said: "I got a really positive reaction from the fans when I came on and I share in their disappointment at what happened.

"But now we have got to kick on. After that, I'm keen to establish myself at the club, and I'm hopeful I can."