Jermaine Beckford's former mentor is delighted seeing him succeed at Everton.
Veteran Wealdstone boss Gordon Bartlett helped nurture Beckford in those early days, and will be tuning into Match of the Day on Saturday night with special interest to monitor the progress of a young player he remembers fondly.
"We got hold of Jermaine as a youth player when his Chelsea move didn't work out," Bartlett told the Liverpool Echo.
"I was coaching the Middlesex county side as well and I spotted him playing for them.
"He was the most natural finisher I have ever seen.
"He is confident beyond belief and I would say that's one of his biggest assets.
"He never gets tense in front of goal like a lot of strikers do.
"Jermaine is the type of player who goes to congratulate the keeper if he saves one of his shots, because he knows he'll just score past him next time.
"Some of the goals he scored for us were out of this world. I won't deny there were times when I was tearing my hair out with him.
"He was a young lad, only just coming up but there was never any doubt he could go on to a successful future in the game."
"I did a lot of patient nurturing with him and it paid off. I always believed in his ability.
