There's many a left back in the Barclays Premier League who will be led a merry dance by Manchester City's Shaun Wright-Phillips this season.

But in his very taste of top flight football after coming on as a half time substitute at Eastlands on Saturday, George Elokobi dispossessed the jet-heeled England winger to provide his team-mates, and indeed the travelling supporters, with a real lift.

It was the start of an accomplished 45 minutes for the power-packed 23-year-old as he not only completed the journey from non league to Premier League but also offered evidence he will certainly be able to cut the mustard against the likes of Wright-Phillips and company.

"It's not a bad place to start your Premier League career!" George admitted with a smile.

"I really enjoyed it.

"It's awesome for me that the gaffer decided to put me into a game like this at half time because not many managers put a left back on at that stage.

"But the gaffer and the coaching staff trust me to go in there and do a job and I tried to repay them by putting in a good performance.

"We all want to work together as team-mates and I wanted to put a marker down with my first challenge.

"I just tried to keep my eyes on the ball and win it fair and square and defend properly.

"For me to be able to be able to stand my own against the players Manchester City have is great for me and helps me know I can play at this level and not be scared of anyone.

"I respect my opponent but I don't fear anyone, I just want to do a job for myself, the team and for the fans."

And while sharing the collective disappointment in defeat on Saturday, George also echoed the sentiments of management and players in taking plenty of positives away from running the multi-million pound Manchester City so close.

"We went to Manchester knowing it would be a very difficult game but we did ourselves proud especially in the second half," he added.

"They started well but once we put a couple of passes together we gradually found the confidence that we might be able to get something from the game.

"We have to take back the positives from how we played against such a good team.