Teenager Taylor Charters must believe he should be in Carlisle United’s first team, reckons Gavin Skelton.

The young west Cumbrian midfielder has made seven sub appearances since the turn of the year.

Boss Chris Beech has given Charters a number of outings ahead of some senior players.

And assistant head coach Skelton says the 18-year-old should be confident enough to grab more opportunities.

The United No2 said: “Without putting too much on his shoulders I think Taylor has a big future in the game.

“It’s good that the manager has shown faith to keep putting him on ahead of senior pros, and he should take confidence from that.

“He’s at that level now where he should believe he’s in the first team and he should be knocking on the door, not just accepting that he’s in the squad but pushing to get in the team.”

Charters is the latest home-grown player to get his chance at United after the breakthroughs made by Liam McCarron and Jarrad Branthwaite, who have since been sold to Leeds and Everton respectively.

He was handed a professional contract earlier in the campaign, just over halfway through his two-year youth scholarship.

United have since offered senior deals to four more teenagers – Liam Lightfoot, Charlie Barnes, Charlie Birch and Tom Wilson.

Skelton added: “Taylor has done really well and I’ve been pleased for him.

"We’ve got some really good staff right through the academy and it’s shown in the last couple of years with how we’ve produced players.

“Some of them are starting to get into the first team, and that’s been a group effort not just from the staff now but over the last couple of years as well.”

On the continued dangers of United losing talented young players to bigger clubs soon into their first-team careers, Skelton added: “That’s part of football.

“If teams come for [the likes of Charters] it means he’s doing something right and the club is doing something right.

“It would be great if they could play 100-200 games for us and get us promoted but that’s the market these days and you just have to accept it.

“It’s really promising and exciting that we’ve managed to get a few through in the last couple of years.”