Fresh off Garang Kuol's first Socceroos goal, teammate Kye Rowles has backed the teen sensation to turn the moment into a run of form for club and country.
Kuol came off the bench against Ecuador in the 78th minute on Friday and tapped home Australia's third goal in the 3-1 victory just six minutes later.
The strike belied a difficult start to life on loan at Scottish club Hearts for Newcastle United youngster Kuol, who has struggled for gametime since his hotly-anticipated January move.
Rowles, who played with the 18-year-old at Central Coast and is now his teammate at Hearts, alongside fellow Socceroos Nathaniel Atkinson and Cammy Devlin, delighted in Kuol's breakthrough.
"It's something that obviously all the younger kids crave, especially being forwards, they want to get that first goal as soon as possible," Rowles told AAP ahead of Tuesday night's second match at Marvel Stadium.
"In minutes added up, it's come pretty quick for him.
"The boys were excited for him obviously, and he's just one of a few younger players that are coming through.
"So hopefully we get a few more goals out of all of them in the near future; we're going to need them."
Kuol has played just 198 minutes in eight games across all competitions at Hearts but Rowles was confident things would click.
"You don't really get to walk into teams, unfortunately," he said.
"It's probably what you want but sometimes it just doesn't go that way. It took myself 18 months from when I signed my first contract to kind of break into the starting 11 in a first team.
"We just tell him to just keep doing his thing.
"Scoring goals for your national team's obviously going to help a long way and I think once he breaks his duck over in Scotland, he'll really show his true colours and just hit his straps and start flying."
Rowles, a mainstay at Hearts, says it will take time for the youngster to fully come to grips with the gritty Scottish league, but that once he does, he'll take off.
"He's so young and he's learning every day," he said.
"The Scottish league is very physical and it's a different style of play than what it is back here.
"They don't care who you are over there - they're just going to go through you. They don't hold back challenges.
"He's just keeping his head down and he's working hard and hopefully he starts getting more and more minutes because he can show what he can do.
"He only got 12 minutes on Friday and he had that kind of impact. So hopefully he just keeps kicking on."
