Bohemians captain Derek Pender was taken aback by the negative reaction following the senior debut of his team-mate Evan Ferguson.

The 14-year-old was an 89th-minute substitute in the league draw with Derry City last Friday night which led to criticism from some former players and football pundits.

It wasn't a first appearance with the senior team for Ferguson who made a big impact off the bench in the August friendly against Chelsea.

"Evan's been in training with us the last few weeks," Pender told Off The Ball on Tuesday. "He came on against Chelsea where he was getting marked by Kurt Zouma who's seven-foot!

"But he's been training with us the last few weeks and, the size of him. People that are giving out about it probably don't know the size of him. Evan's a man, for a fourteen-year-old. There was never any chance of him getting hurt.

"Obviously, look, it's football and people are going to get hurt but he's been with us and he's been bullying Rob Cornwall in training. Rob's like a monster for us at centre-half."

Ferguson is the son of former Bohemians defender Barry Ferguson who also played for Shamrock Rovers, Longford Town and Sporting Fingal.

Pender believes that the midfielder's Dad would have been delighted to see his son make his League of Ireland bow.

"Yeah, I don't know...I couldn't believe [the reaction] to be honest with you and that's just my opinion. I was shocked at the....I thought it was great that he came on and played.

"Evan thought it was great and I'm sure Barry thought it was great, his family did. Look, it's people's opinion."

You can watch the full Derek Pender interview here.

The Bohs skipper was speaking at the launch of FIFA 20 with the return of the popular FIFA 20 SSE Airtricity League Premier Division Club Packs, which will be going live when the game launches this Friday 27th September.