Christian Atsu admits he is delighted with his first St James’ Park strike - and believes he owed the Newcastle United home faithful a goal.
The 24-year-old set the Magpies on their way to a 2-1 victory over Cardiff City by opening the scoring inside two-and-a-half minutes with a neat finish inside the near post.
The Ghana international winger had wasted a few opportunities in front of goal during his last appearance at St James’ Park against Preston North End in the EFL Cup, and insists he was due a goal on Tyneside.
“I’m happy that we won and also that I was on the scoresheet,” Atsu explained following the Championship leaders’ eighth straight win in all competitions.
“I wanted to score at St James’ Park in front of our fans, and it was a fantastic atmosphere. I’m very happy to score. The last time [against Preston in the EFL Cup I missed a lot of chances].
“[Against Cardiff] I scored my first chance, though I missed another opportunity to kill the game. I kept my head up and kept fighting to the end. I want to score more.”
Atsu was teed up for his goal by Aleksandar Mitrovic who, after playing a one-two with Ayoze Perez, took his time in the box before calmly squaring to the Ghanaian.
Mitrovic could have gone for goal himself, but unselfishly set-up his team-mate - and Atsu praised the striker for the assist.
“I thank him that he saw me,” Atsu added.
“There are some strikers that like to score themselves [when they’re in the box] but he gave the ball to me.”
Though Newcastle took the lead early against Cardiff, and then doubled their advantage just before half-time thanks to Yoan Gouffran’s strike, the Magpies failed to kill off the game by netting a third goal.
Then, in the final half-hour, the Bluebirds grew in confidence, pulled a goal back through Peter Whittingham, and made life difficult for United.
And Atsu admits the Magpies were relieved to secure all three points after a frustrating second half.
He continued: “It’s always tough in the Championship. With set-pieces they are very dangerous. They pressed us high in the second half, but we got the three points.”