As far as debuts go, Joe Willock’s was pretty much perfect.
Steve Bruce put his latest signing straight into the starting XI, and it didn’t take long for his decision to be justified.
Willock opened the scoring against Southampton, bursting into the box brilliantly to get on the end of Allan Saint-Maximin’s pull back.
It wasn’t just about his goal though. Willock constantly got forward and looked to get in the box, something we’ve rarely seen from Newcastle midfielders this season.
And in the second half when we went down to 10 and then nine men, he showed the defensive side to his game.
The Arsenal loanee wasn’t afraid to roll up his sleeves and do the dirty work, as the Magpies hung on for a vital three points.
Fans would have made it even better for Willock
In an interview with Sky Sports, Willock has been reflecting on his debut, admitting that something was missing.
“When I scored, it was a brilliant feeling,” he said.
“I wish the fans were there for me to do a knee slide and run in front of the crowd but I couldn’t do it so I celebrated with the team.”
The noise inside of St James’ Park would have been incredible when Willock found the net.
Sadly though, we had to celebrate from home.
Newcastle have been a tough watch lately, but St James’ Park would have been absolutely rocking had it been full last weekend.
Three first half goals, red card drama, big tackles in the rain, defending for our lives – it was the kind of stuff that gets fans out of their seats.
Willock certainly had a debut to remember, but he would never have been able to forget it had he been cheered on by thousands of Geordies.
Hopefully one day he can experience that.
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