The Crystal Palace Academy graduate was called upon to impress from the bench in the 26th minute following an injury to Jeffrey Schlupp, and impressed on what was just his fourth Premier League appearance at Selhurst Park.
Celebrating his 21st birthday this week, Rak-Sakyi understands that time is on his side, telling Palace TV: “It was good. I just had to be ready for my time. Today I got the chance and I was happy with the performance today.
“I was just feeling confident because I know we’ve got a lot of injuries and there’s a lot of spaces for me to impress, so I’m just happy that when I came on today, I was able to do as much as I could for the team.
“You’ve got to be switched on all the time. In football, things can change really quickly, so every meeting, everything that we do, you’ve got to be switched on because it could be you on the pitch, like it was me today.
“It’s very different because I’ve been on the sidelines [this season] quite a bit. Last season I was playing a lot, but this is the highest level of football and this is where I want to play, so even me watching is a good experience for me.
“Today, when I came on, it was very good – I just want to build on that.”