It has felt like a long time coming, but Chelsea wonderkid Jesse Derry has finally secured his first professional goal involvement with an assist for Sporting Lisbon on Tuesday night.

Derry has endured a difficult time over in Portugal, failing to start a single match for Sporting since completing a loan move from Chelsea. But the 19-year-old has made his Champions League debut.

On Tuesday night, Sporting took on Maritimo in the quarter-finals of the Portuguese League Cup and secured a 2-1 win, booking their place in the semi-finals where they will face Braga or Famalicao.

Jesse Derry helps break the deadlock with an in-swinging corner

Derry had impressed in pre-season, starring in his first outing in green and white against Celtic and even scoring a goal against Filipe Luis’ Monaco. But he has been made to wait to start competitively.

That changed on Tuesday night, lasting 73 minutes as Sporting beat Maritimo 2-1. Derry’s corner found Pedro Lima for the first of the Brazilian’s two goals on the night, with Lima powering home a header.

Portuguese media praise Derry for Sporting display

Derry will be hoping this convinces manager Rui Borges to start using him more often. The loan to the Portuguese club was designed to effectively replace Geovany Quenda, but he hasn’t got much of a sniff.

Portuguese media say he was excellent, with Dia De Jogo giving him a 7.4:  “Provided an assist, created a great opportunity, and gave two passes leading to shots. Three successful dribbles and won six duels.”

Chelsea will be hoping that Derry now gets more game time, having produced in his first real chance for the Liga NOS giants. It’s a quick turnaround for Sporting, who now go to Casa Pia on Friday night.