Callum Marshall said he went from ecstasy to agony as his dream debut goal for Northern Ireland was chalked off by VAR.
The West Ham teenager thought he had rescued a late point against Denmark with an instinctive finish at the Parken Stadium.
Marshall, who helped the Hammers win the FA Youth Cup last season bagging 20 goals along the way for the Under-18s, showed his striking prowess latching on to Jonny Evans knockdown to flick the ball past Kasper Schmeichel and cue wild scenes of celebration.
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But after a lengthy VAR review the former Linfield man's joy was extinguished as the goal was ruled out for offside against Evans in the build up.
"It went from probably the most ecstatic couple of minutes of my career by a mile to date to the hardest," said Marshall.
"I'm still proud to make my debut and the minutes I did get as much as it won't have the same impact on my career as it would have done if it had stood.
"I've shown I can score goals and that's what I'm here to do.
"I'm an attacker, I love scoring goals and I've done that all season and I tried to bring that into the game today.
"The manager trusted me to give me 10 minutes tonight. I tried to throw everything at it and the chance that came for me I knew I was going to take it. It was just unfortunate it didn't get us a point tonight."
It was an encouraging display by Northern Ireland's injury-hit squad, who made the Danes work all the way for the win.
Marshall knows they will have to lift their game again when Kazakhstan visit Windsor Park on Monday night as Northern Ireland bid to get their Euro 2024 qualification hopes back on track.
"Denmark is obviously a very tough opponent and Kazakhstan will be the same," he said.
"They beat Denmark so we know we will have to up our game another level to beat Kazakhstan on Monday.
"We'll have the fans there supporting us which will give us a boost as well, we just have to keep playing our football and have a heart which Northern Ireland players always have."
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