The ex-West Ham United youngster played 90 minutes at left-back in Monday night’s 3-2 home win over his former club.

Aston Villa new boy Oscar Borg enjoyed an excellent debut for the Under-21s on Monday night as they beat his former club West Ham United 3-2 at Villa Park in their latest U21 Premier League Division Two match.

The 18-year-old wide man, who joined Villa from West Ham last month on a two-and-a-half-year deal, played the full 90 minutes at left-back after featuring for the Under-18s on the weekend and impressed both in defence and attack, linking up well with Andre Green down the flank to cause the Hammers some real problems.

With both teams forced to adapt to the difficult conditions, the home side opened the scoring after 12 minutes when Khalid Abdo started and finished a well-worked counter attack between him, Jack Grealish and Keinan Davis.

West Ham levelled things up eight minutes later through Stephen Hendrie, but Villa regained the lead seven minutes after the break when Grealish and Davis combined once again to set up Green for a simple finish.

The visitors were never out of the contest, however, and grabbed another equaliser 12 minutes from time as substitute Jahmal Hector-Ingram outpaced Kevin Toner to latch onto Marcus Browne’s through ball and fire past goalkeeper Matija Sarkic.

Villa eventually found the winner in the 87th-minute, though, courtesy of striker Corey Blackett-Taylor, who pounced on fellow substitute Callum O’Hare’s rebounded shot to fire home for his first Under-21 goal of the campaign.

A heated finish in front of the bumper crowd saw Toner shown his marching orders for a strong challenge, but Kevin MacDonald’s outfit managed to hold on to secure three vital points towards their promotion push.

The victory means the Young Lions have secured one of the league’s four play-off spots ahead of next week’s regular season finale at Blackburn Rovers, having taken 38 points from 21 games to leave them third in the table.

This content could not be loaded Delighted to announce I have signed my professional contract at Aston villa! Thank you to everyone for your support! pic.twitter.com/KPZxfRB1Ep — Oscar Borg (@oscarborg5) March 26, 2016

Borg will likely be featuring in that fixture after proving one of the team’s standout players against West Ham along with the likes of goalscorer Abdo and the fit-again Grealish, and it might not be long before he is knocking on the door of the senior squad either given his much-touted potential.

Once described as ‘the new Gareth Bale’, the teenage set-piece specialist was tipped for a big future during his time at Upton Park, and Villa supporters seeing him in action for the first time seemed more than impressed with his combination of pace, skill and endeavour.

Courtesy of Twitter, here is a taste of how some of them viewed the youngster’s display…

This content could not be loaded Oscar Borg. U18 last week. U21 this week. 1st team next? Haha. — dave (@doc3d) April 11, 2016

This content could not be loaded Abdo a stand out player for me. @oscarborg5 also impressing. #AVFC — Support The U21’s (@SupportThe21s) April 11, 2016

This content could not be loaded It already seems to me that Oscar Borg is likely to break the 1st team next year. Of course depends on the new manager’s preferences #avfc — The Villa Times (@AVFCTimes) April 11, 2016

This content could not be loaded Oscar Borg impresses me #avfc — Tony Lloyd (@tonyglloyd) April 11, 2016

This content could not be loaded Oscar Borg is impressing #AVFC — AVFC TransTweet (@AVFCTransTweet) April 11, 2016

This content could not be loaded @oscarborg5 looks a decent player can’t wait to see him next season #avfc — shaun willans (@swillans1980) April 11, 2016

This content could not be loaded Bet @oscarborg5 enjoyed that victory 🙂 #avfc #UTV — Roger. W (@RogW38) April 11, 2016

This content could not be loaded First the u18s and now the u21s. Onwards and upwards for @oscarborg5 #avfc — Villa Till I Die (@VillaTill) April 11, 2016

This content could not be loaded Amazing game at villa park today all were class.Props to @kevintoner60 shouldn’t have been sent off @oscarborg5 great game at the back also — Owen (@OwenDiegnan__) April 11, 2016

This content could not be loaded @oscarborg5 Excellent tonight Son, so glad u joined the Villa showed passion and desire against old mates, proud Oscar — Astony Villa (@Tuitey) April 11, 2016

This content could not be loaded @oscarborg5 well done tonight… Though you were very composed at the back and got forward well. #bigthingstocome #UTV — Chelle (@chelleavfc) April 11, 2016

This content could not be loaded @shelley_ozzy @oscarborg5 Great on the ball just oozes class & he put a real shift in tonight against his former teammates — Julie Bayley (@JulieBayleyIFA) April 11, 2016

This content could not be loaded Well done to the Villa U21s and in particular @oscarborg5 who played and won against his former team. Onwards and upwards to the 1st team. — Neil Fox (@FoxyN77) April 11, 2016

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