Watkins came on as a 63rd minute substitute for Dominic Calvert-Lewin and rounded off the scoring in a 5-0 romp as Gareth Southgate’s men began the journey to Qatar in convincing fashion.
It has been some journey for the 25-year-old, who has risen through the lower ranks of English football with Exeter City and Brentford before earning a £28m move to Aston Villa at the start of this season.
"Unbelievable, what I have dreamt about. All day in the hotel I was just thinking that I hope to get a chance to come on, enjoy it and get the opportunity to score. I'm speechless to be honest,” Watkins told ITV Sport.
"It's been a good journey. I just feel honoured that I can come out here and play for my country with these players and score on my debut. Over the moon.
"I just wanted to get on pitch for a start. I have and can't believe it.
"I'm going to take each game as it comes, focus on my club form, play consistently for Aston Villa, score for them, help the team push up the table and hopefully get into Europe and take it from there."
England manager Southgate added: "The first thing you saw was the reaction from the rest of the team."
"That shows you how together they are. They know what it means for him. He's settled in really quickly with the group.
“He's a really humble boy and it was nice to be able to give him half an hour or so. For him to get a goal is a fairytale isn't it?"
Watkins has scored 10 league goals in 28 games for Aston Villa this season.
