Sterry's Delight At Magpies Bow

By Tom Easterby - Newcastle United Club Reporter

Young defender Jamie Sterry couldn't hide his delight after making his Newcastle United debut in the emphatic 5-1 victory over Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.

The 20-year-old full back replaced stand-in captain Moussa Sissoko with six minutes remaining at St. James' Park as the Magpies signed off their season with a superb win over Mauricio Pochettino's men.

Sterry - a product of the Club's Academy - was watched by his family, including his parents and brother, as he took to the hallowed turf for the first time as a first team player.

And afterwards, he put into words just how happy he was to have made his professional bow for the Club he supports - and said that, now he's had a taste of it, he wants to use the experience as a springboard towards further progress next season.

"It's a really proud day for me. My family were here to support me as well. I was warming up for ages, hoping to get on, and I finally got the chance," Sterry told nufc.co.uk.

"I've worked hard all season to get on, and all the hard work has paid off. Hopefully that gives me a good chance of pushing on and playing some games next season.

"It's pretty hard to describe. I was just buzzing, I just wanted to get on the pitch so I'm very happy to have done that and played part of the game.

"It was an unbelievable experience. I'm so happy to have played, especially in front of 52,000, which is crazy to think about.

"There wasn't much pressure (by the time I came on), so that's helped a lot. I've been training hard and it's paid off.

"I've been here quite a while and worked my way up. Now I want to push on for next year and try and get a few starts and play quite a lot of the games, and hopefully help the team come back up."

He added: "We needed to end on a high, and that's what we've done. Disappointingly, we're going into the Championship, but you can see the players have got quite a lot of heart, and we've scored five goals and the crowd loved it - they're the best crowd in the world.

"It hasn't been the best season and we've left it a bit late, but at least we've put that performance in and shown that we're good enough to bounce straight back up next year."

The win, which came courtesy of a Georginio Wijnaldum brace and strikes from Aleksandar Mitrovic, Rolando Aarons and Daryl Janmaat, extended United's unbeaten run to six games.

Manager Rafa Benitez received plenty of vocal support from the Magpies faithful throughout the clash, and Sterry says that working with the former Real Madrid boss - as well as some of the more experienced players in the squad - has aided his development as a player.

"I've been learning so much. He (tells me) to work on the tactical side of the game, so I've been trying and have been speaking to him quite a bit about it," he revealed. "He's really helping, and he's obviously given me the chance to play.

"I'm learning from Daryl and Vurn, who's been playing at right back, and Dummy as well who I've known for ages now and has helped me all the way. He was saying a few days ago 'just be patient - it'll come, even if it's next year or the year after', so I'm just really happy to have played the game."