HARRY Kewell believes Latics have a special talent on their hands in teenage striker Junior Luamba.

The 17-year-old was handed his Football League debut in the 0-0 draw at Grimsby on Tuesday night with Kewell short of options in attack.

Luamba was one of five changes to the side after the 2-1 defeat at home to Harrogate on Boxing Day, 13-goal striker Conor McAleny joining Danny Rowe and George Blackwood on the sidelines while Bobby Grant was suspended after his red card against Town at Boundary Park.

Kewell was impressed with what he saw from the prospect, who played 66 minutes before making way for Davis Keillor-Dunn at Blundell Park.

“It was great for him to get his start and I thought he did a fantastic job,” said the Latics boss after the midweek stalemate with the managerless Mariners.

“He had a couple of chances in the first half and he was primed for his goal if Cam (Cameron Borthwick-Jackson) would have just dropped it in to him he would have had it.

“It was disappointing that he didn’t get his goal but he worked very hard and I think he is a special talent.

“I think he gets overlooked a lot but he’s got an opportunity now because we have a few striker problems with injuries.

“Hopefully he can recover and we’ll see what happens.”

Kewell will now see what he has available ahead of the first game of 2021 on the road at high-flying Forest Green Rovers on Saturday.

Latics end the calendar year in 14th and four points shy of the League Two play-off places.

Mark Cooper’s Rovers are very much in the promotion mix in second just a point behind leaders Newport, but lost for the second time this season on home soil on Tuesday night as they went down 2-1 against Crawley.

While Kewell’s men missed out on a record eighth straight away win in all competitions at Grimsby, the boss was keen to concentrate on the bigger picture.

“We’re happy that we kept a clean sheet, which is important, but disappointed that we didn’t finish the job off,” he said.

“We take the small positives from a game like that and look to stretch them out into big ones.

“We had enough chances to win the game but we’ll take a point.”