Cauley Woodrow believes he will get a fair crack of the whip next season – because Felix Magath has already shown he has faith in younger players.

The teenager bagged his first goal for Fulham with a supremely assured finish in Sunday's 2-2 draw with Crystal Palace at the Cottage in the final game of the season.

It was a fitting reward for a player who has caught the imagination of home fans – and more importantly, the boss.

“The manager's been playing us young lads throughout. He's shown that he has faith in us,” said a confident Woodrow, who has been called up to England U21s for next week's Euro qualifier against Wales.

“He's played me, Moussa Dembele and Chris David. With this manager, I think if you are doing well, he doesn't really care what age you are.

“Us young lads are hungry. We want to prove ourselves and we want to play games. I think the manager wants to get a mixture of youth and old, so there's a nice balance.

“To be honest I didn't think I'd be scoring in the Premier League this season.

"I thought I'd stay out on loan and play games there and then come back here eventually or go out on loan again at a higher level. But I've just tried to take it in my stride and it's been great.

“At Southend I played a different style of football and when I came back here, I was playing against world class defenders and with world class players, so for me it's been great. I just try to enjoy it and do as well as I can.”

Woodrow knows that Fulham face a huge task bouncing back up to the top flight at the first time of asking next season, but he thinks that with Magath remaining at the helm, they have a chance.

“He's said to us he's going to be here and his main aim's to get us promoted next season, so that's what our focus will be as well,” he said.

“It's not going to be easy, but it's the same for every team in the league, so there will be no excuses next season and we're just going to have to work as hard as we can and get the results to get promoted.

“It's obviously disappointing that we're not still in the Premier League but for me it was a nice moment to score my first goal. We've got to focus on next season now and get promoted.

“For Chris as well, it was a great goal for him and us young lads have hopefully got a good future.”