Liverpool reserves boss Gary Ablett was delighted to see Stephen Darby make his first team debut in last week's Carling Cup defeat at Tottenham.

"We were delighted for Stephen when he made his first team debut," Ablett told liverpoolfc.tv.

"He is a player who gives every single thing he's got every day of the week. He fully deserved his chance and for the 10 minutes he was on the field at Tottenham I thought he did particularly well.

"He was calm and composed and it's now up to the boss to see what happens now. Hopefully that little cameo at Spurs will show him that Stephen is someone he can rely on if he needs to.

"Stephen is Mr Consistency and has been our captain now for a over a year and fully deserves it.

"He always leads by example and with Philipp Degen's unfortunate injury hopefully this might give Stephen a chance to show the manager what he can do."