Everton winger Jack Harrison was delighted to get his first senior start under his belt.

The former Leeds United star played in the Carabao Cup third round success over Aston Villa on Wednesday.

While he was happy to get the nod, Harrison admitted he thought that he'd be lining up again for Everton Under-21s at Burton Albion instead.

Harrison told the Liverpool Echo: “I think coming out to this stadium where there's a great atmosphere and they're a difficult side to play against it was really challenging.

“To have 45 minutes last Friday (he played in the U21s' 2-1 home win over Norwich City) and then building it up again here was a good challenge.

“I was really excited for the opportunity to get back out on a pitch like that and play football at Premier League level again as it's been a while. There was some talk of me playing in the Under-21s game on Tuesday night at Burton but after a conversation with the gaffer at the start of the week I found out I'd be playing on Wednesday and I was really grateful for that opportunity and happy we could get a result.

“I'm still not at the match sharpness that I'd like to be at but I thought it was a nice building block after Friday to step up against Premier League opposition and get a few more minutes in the tank. I think that sharpness will come because I'm always working as hard as I can to try and get that back plus the training that we're doing helps a lot as well so hopefully it will come back soon.

“I tried to mix it up a little bit and the gaffer wanted me a little bit more inside, mainly because of the defensive responsibilities that the wingers had here closing off through the middle and being really organized defensively and we did exactly that."