TEENAGER Paul Huntington had Chelsea superstar Arjen Robben worried and now the Newcastle United teenager has been backed to follow in James Milner's footsteps on the Premiership stage.

Despite having just four minutes of first team action as a substitute at Blackburn behind him, Huntington belied his lack of top flight experience to severely restrict the Blues' £12m Dutch winger Robben.

The 19-year-old, normally a centre-back for the reserves, succeeded despite playing in an unfamiliar right-back role.

Now, with injuries continuing to ravage the Magpies squad, manager Glenn Roeder will have no worries about playing the youngster more regularly, and he could make his second start for the club tomorrow at home to Watford.

Milner, well aware of the pressures on young players, having made his debut for Leeds at 16, has been amazed by his team-mate's attitude.

The Newcastle winger is well placed to pass judgement and advice to Huntington, and was thrown into a more difficult situation during his teenage years at Elland Road.

Milner has played more than 100 times since his full debut in February 2003 - following 11 appearances as a substitute.

At 16 years and 356 days he became the Premiership's youngest goalscorer when he scored at Sunderland on Boxing Day four years ago and he feels Huntington has the character to become a household name in the top tier of English football.

"It's all about confidence for young players and that will have done him the power of good," said Milner, still only 20.

"He was up against a quality player and he showed he wasn't going to be overawed. It's a great start for him.

"I know what it is like to have been thrust into the spotlight like that and it just takes confidence. You have to build your confidence up.

"But Huntington has shown on the training pitch just what a good player he has the potential to be. He looks the part and showed he can be the part after Wednesday. He hardly gave Robben a sniff and that is testament to him. To think he was playing out of position is fantastic.

"It helped him to have Steven Taylor and Peter Ramage doing well there together. But Hunts built his own confidence up in the first few minutes when he crashed into Robben and won the ball."

Despite running the double champions close at the Bridge, Milner could not hide his disappointment at allowing Chelsea to grab a winner 16 minutes from time through Didier Drogba.

Even though the defeat meant Newcastle's eight-match unbeaten run came to an end, there is an increased belief that Roeder has a group of players eager to prove people wrong.

With a serious lack of numbers through injury, Newcastle have climbed towards mid-table before the manager has the opportunity to strengthen in the January transfer window.

Milner said: "When you look at the squad and the bench, there were not many players over 21. It shows the quality. We haven't moaned about the injury situation but it has been ridiculous.

"You can't do anything about it. It shows the mental toughness and togetherness we have. That will carry us through and with the Christmas period coming up, we need to show that togetherness.

"There's a lot of quality coming through from the academy. I'm not sure people knew about that side of the club before this run.

"We have turned it around a bit from the start of the season with the performances we have been putting in.

"We had a nice run going before Wednesday and I really think we would have turned it around, with or without the injuries. The togetherness has always been there."

The knee injury sustained by Charles N'Zogbia at Chelsea meant Milner had to play much of the game as a central midfielder alongside Nicky Butt.

Provided Emre, Scott Parker and Kieron Dyer return against Watford, the Yorkshire lad is unlikely to have to play there tomorrow.

But he said: "I will play anywhere. That's the good thing about this squad. When we're low on numbers, we're all together and when people are asked to play out of position, they do that."

With transfers permitted again on January 1 Milner, who almost joined Aston Villa on August 31, is likely to attract interest once more.

But the England Under-21 international said: "I'm just concentrating on the performances on the field. All I want to do is play football. Hopefully everything else will take care of itself."

Celestine Babayaro will miss the Carling Cup quarter-final with Chelsea next Wednesday after picking up his fifth yellow card of the season