Teemu Pukki insisted his hat-trick for Norwich against Newcastle was the stuff of dreams for a player picked up on a free transfer last summer.
The Finnish forward fired the Canaries ahead with a sweetly-struck volley at Carrow Road and added a second and third inside 12 minutes of the second half to take the game away from the visitors.
Pukki was released by Danish side Brondby in the summer of 2018 before Norwich brought him in, and the player repaid that faith by finishing the 2018-19 season as the top goalscorer in the Championship as Daniel Farke’s men were promoted as champions.
“That was one of the best games I’ve had here,” Pukki told the BBC’s Match of the Day programme.
“A hat-trick in the Premier League is something I couldn’t even dream of a couple of years ago.”
Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker pointed out to Pukki that his hat-trick was the first in the Premier League by a Norwich player since Efan Ekoku in 1993.
“I didn’t know that – it sounds pretty special,” the Finn added.
Norwich boss Farke felt the win would do wonders for his side’s confidence.
“It is important to get off the mark as quickly as possible and to do this immediately in the home game against such a good side like Newcastle is outstanding and good for the mood, good for the self-confidence,” he said.
“It’s always good to have the first win under your belt.”
Steve Bruce, whose side had only an injury-time consolation goal from Jonjo Shelvey to show for their efforts, insisted there was no lack of desire from his players but admitted they needed to improve in “a lot of departments”.
“Make no mistake, we’ve only been here four, four and a half weeks and we’ll go again next week and improve and can be better,” he said.
“I wouldn’t question their desire, I think they just got caught up in (Norwich’s first home game).
“I can’t question anyone’s desire. I don’t think you want to go out there and do badly but certainly we can do more in a lot of departments and I think that was the frustrating thing from our perspective.”
