A FRAMED shirt on his bedroom wall is a reminder to Josh Coburn of the best moment of his career so far. Not that the striker will ever forget that night against Tottenham and the emphatic finish that dumped the Spurs superstars out of the FA Cup.

"I still can't really describe the feeling to be honest," the 20-year-old tells the Northern Echo.

"It was just one of them moments where the ball has gone in the back of the net and I'm thinking is this real?

"Obviously after the game your phone is absolutely blowing up. It was mental."

One of the many messages he received in the immediate aftermath was from his best mate's dad, accompanied by a clip of BBC Tees pundit Neil Maddison screaming "wallop" into the microphone.

"I was absolutely howling. I listened to it loads," says Coburn.

"I remember the day after the game, I went to the bank with my mum and the lady at reception said to me, 'did you score against Tottenham last night?'. I'd never really had that before. A few people spotted me that day, it was all just mental."

Getting recognised is something Coburn will have to get used to if he is to reach the heights predicted by his loan manager Joey Barton. Coburn has spent the season on loan at Bristol Rovers in League One, impressing his temporary boss so much that earlier in the campaign he tipped the Middlesbrough striker to go on and play for England in the future.

"That's one of the biggest compliments you can give a footballer and did give me great confidence," admits Coburn.

"He's been really good with me. He's managed everything. I had a bit of a knee niggle a few weeks ago and he managed me really well through that. He's given me so much confidence in my game and I feel like my game has come on massively since I've been here. Confidence is a massive thing and obviously when I've gone on and scored a lot of goals, it's helped massively.

"I think he's really good at that kind of thing, giving players confidence and knowing how to get the best out of them."

Talk of man-management leads us to Neil Warnock, the manager who gave Coburn his chance at Middlesbrough. The young forward had barely even featured for the Under-23s when then-boss Warnock handed him his surprise opportunity, from which the Bedale-born forward didn't look back.

"It all happened so fast," he says, looking back on his breakthrough two years ago.

"I was playing for the 23s and scoring a few goals there. I think I'd only played maybe three games for the Under-23s because I was still an Under-18 at the time. They asked me to go and train with the first team. I think it was a Tuesday or Thursday before a game against Stoke.

"I trained really well that day, I trained the next day and trained well again. Then I was on the bench for the first time. It was like I literally trained a few days and I was on the bench, I was just like wow, what's just happened?

"I kept training with them and just tried my best in training and caught his eye. He was talking to me throughout and just said he really likes me and he'll give me a chance before the end of the season and thankfully he did.

"It was an amazing feeling. If you're high on confidence, it's the main thing in football, if you're confident you'll play well and he was just the best at giving people confidence.

"If players needed to be shouted at or were better off with an arm around them, he just knows exactly what to do to get the best out of players. That's the best thing about good managers, they know their players."

If Coburn's sudden breakthrough into the first team fold at Boro was a surprise to some fans, that was also the case at home. The son of a Richmond butcher, Coburn admits nobody in his family would have predicted his career path when he was young.

"My mum and dad don't know anything about football really," he laughs.

"They know a bit now but they've had to find out more. It's a bit of a running joke in the family asking how I've become a footballer, they don't understand where it's come from. Nobody in my family played football, they were more rugby and things like that, so it was a bit of a shock really.

"They really enjoy it now and understand it a bit more now but even if I've played alright, they don't really say much because they don't know too much. But I quite like it that way to be honest.

"I think if I've had a bad game you know you've had a bad game, I wouldn't want my parents to be on me all the time. That's the good thing. When you've had a good game, you know you've had a good game."

So if there was no love of football in the family, how did he turn out to be such a good player?

"I think it came from playing with my mates," he says.

"All of my mates at school played football and ever since I was three or four I just constantly wanted to play football. Obviously mates at school influence you. I just started playing with them.

"We played for Bedale, we had a great age group and we all went through until secondary then we all went to secondary together. I just really enjoyed playing football with my mates and that helps massively when you're enjoying your football."

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Coburn has certainly enjoyed his football this season. Some eyebrows were raised when the striker was allowed to leave on loan in the summer given Boro were short of centre-forwards at the time but Coburn knew it was the right decision and says he'll return to Teesside in the summer with his game having "come on massively".

"I think it's gone really well. I've played a lot of games, that's the main thing, and I've scored a few goals," he says.

"It's dried up a little bit but I'm still playing games, so that's the main thing. I'm still getting that experience and I've definitely taken a lot away from that.

"It makes you grow up. Living away by myself, cooking for yourself, knowing what are the right foods to eat, recovering. There are so many games, you're playing Saturday-Tuesday so you need to know what to eat and get the right amount of sleep. On the pitch, I think it's more the physicality and getting used to that part of the game. Even just the dark arts of the game, knowing when to get the fouls, knowing how much it means to everyone."

Such was his form earlier in the season, Coburn was labelled 'The Teesside Haaland' by his Bristol Rovers teammates. The world's best striker is someone the Boro youngster has studied closey.

"Growing up I always used to watch Rooney, I used to love him, and Ronaldo is an obvious one because of how many goals he scored," says Coburn, discussing those he looks up to.

"And most recently Haaland, he's just incredible. I've looked quite a lot into his clips and how he gets into goalscoring moments. He gets goals all the time so I really look into his game and how he makes his runs, which is helping me massively."

At Boro, a lot has changed since Coburn headed for Bristol. Michael Carrick replaced Chris Wilder and Coburn's parent club have been transformed from strugglers into promotion contenders.

Coburn hasn't yet spoken to Carrick in person but understands why and takes it as a compliment, and from the outside looking in has been blown away by the impact of the head coach.

"I think I've been doing well so it's more a case of leaving me to it. I like that to be honest," says the striker.

"Obviously he has a massive job on his hands and enough to think about, so he'll be concentrating on that.

"He's done an incredible job. We were struggling a little bit when he first came in. I've spoken to Hayden (Hackney) and a few of the lads who I'm close to and they're just saying how much of a great coach he is and how much he's turned it around.

"I'm just rooting for them to get promotion. It would be amazing and it's where the club should be."

There was talk of Boro recalling Coburn in January but the striker agreed with the club that he was best left to spend the full season with Rovers.

He said: "We talked about it back in the summer. I had an injury and didn't play until October. I'd only played maybe 15 games for Boro, obviously I was scoring quite a few goals but I hadn't really had the full first team experience.

"I definitely think I've benefited from staying down and playing a lot more games. It moulds you into more of a complete player and more of a man because you have to fend for yourself."

With the experience now under his belt, Coburn has eyes on returning in the summer and making an impact.

He says: "I think I just have to come back and hit the ground running. Obviously the manager hasn't seen me in person. It's massive for me to just show what I can do in pre-season and hopefully show him the best version of myself."