Newcastle new boy Papiss Cisse insists he felt no pressure when he was thrown straight into the heat of Barclays Premier League battle.
The 26-year-old arrived on Tyneside in a near £10million switch from German side Freiburg last month, but had to wait until Sunday's clash with Aston Villa to make his debut after joining club-mate Demba Ba in the Senegal squad at the African Nations Cup.
A woeful campaign in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon saw the pair head home earlier than they had hoped, but their country's loss proved to be Alan Pardew's gain as they teamed up to beat Villa in style.
Indeed, Cisse established himself as an instant hero after coming off the bench to claim the winner with a stunning 71st-minute strike.
Asked if he had felt the expectation on his shoulders, he said: "No, not really, not real pressure.
"I wanted to do well, that's for sure, but I knew yesterday I was going to be on the bench, so I had time to prepare. There was not so much pressure, I was just itching to start.
"It was a dream debut, thank God, and I am really happy to be at Newcastle."
Pardew resisted the temptation to start with both Ba and Cisse, but his best-paid plans were ripped apart when Leon Best limped off with just 14 minutes gone with a medial ligament problem.
Cisse emerged from the dug-out to rapturous applause wearing the number nine shirt for the first time and quickly forced a smart save from keeper Shay Given with a neat header.
However, it was Ba who broke the deadlock, and somewhat against the run of play, with 30 minutes gone.
Richard Dunne managed to head away Danny Guthrie's left-wing cross, but Ryan Taylor latched on to the loose ball and drilled a shot across the face of goal, where Ba reacted instantly to fire past Given for his 16th goal of the season.
Taylor was carried from the pitch on a stretcher after being caught by Stephen Warnock in the build-up, although X-rays later revealed no break to his badly swollen ankle.
However, with Villa having enjoyed the better of the first half, they eventually got their reward deep into injury time when Robbie Keane turned Charles N'Zogbia's cross past Tim Krul, who had earlier twice denied Darren Bent.
But Newcastle stepped up a gear in the second half to push Villa back, and when the breakthrough finally arrived, it did so in story-book style.
Jones Gutierrez's cross from the left evaded Ba, but Cisse controlled it on his chest before lashing a left-foot volley high past Given and into the top corner to spark mass celebrations.
He said: "I took a touch and hit it first time and when it hit the back of the net, it was a very happy moment."
Krul saved from Ciaran Clark and substitute Gary Gardner in a late flurry, but the Magpies held on to ease their way back into fifth place in the Premier League table.
Pardew was thrilled with a hard-fought victory which was achieved without key midfielders Cheick Tiote and Yohan Cabaye, and he and his players will head for Tottenham at the weekend in determined mood.
The manager said: "We will keep going and keep nagging away at those top teams. That's what we should be doing, we are a big club."
In the meantime, Ba and Cisse, international colleagues, but, as yet, not a long-standing partnership, will work on their on-field relationship and the task of scoring the goals to keep the Magpies in the upper reaches of the table.
Asked about his reaction when he heard of Cisse's impending arrival, Ba said: "I was happy.
"I was happy for him, I was happy for the team because I know what he is able to do, and he is good for Newcastle.
"He scored, so I am very happy for him, I am pleased. Hopefully he is going to continue scoring like he did."
Villa boss Alex McLeish left Tyneside pleased with much of what he had seen, but ruing costly errors.
He said: "It was a very, very good performance at times. We have still got a tendency to make errors, but it's definitely a good performance from the players to create what we created all day.
"Keane was definitely lively again and Charles' first piece of magic was right on the half-time whistle for Robbie's equaliser.
"We need to see that more, we don't see it enough."
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