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Young Aussie Rules Britannia
Written by Newcastle Utd
Bradden Inman's hat-trick for the Reserves at Stoke took him to four goals in two games and he's hoping to catch Alan Pardew's eye
By Dan King - Newcastle United Club Reporter
Bradden Inman's hat-trick in the Reserves' 5-1 win at Stoke this week took him up to four goals from two second-string matches this season, and the Australian midfielder is looking to maintain that form to catch the eye of Alan Pardew.
The 20-year-old was on target in the opening day win against Tottenham before claiming the matchball at the Britannia Stadium in what was an excellent team and individual performance.
Inman was named on the bench for a top-flight fixture at Manchester City and for a Carling Cup tie at Peterborough when he was 18, and won the coveted 'Wor Jackie' award in 2010, but - partly due to injury - has slipped down the pecking order since then.
However, having signed a new one-year contract in the summer, he has started the current campaign like a man who is ready to finally fulfil his huge potential.
"It was my first hat-trick for Newcastle so it's a pretty big honour really," the Adelaide-born youngster told nufc.co.uk.
"The first one was a great one-touch pass from Adam (Campbell), and I just took a touch and put it bottom corner. It was a bit of shank but it went in so I'll take it.
"For the second one, I played a one-two with Adam and then made a forward run. He put me through and it was kind of a little dink over the keeper.
"And the third one was good play by Alex (Nicholson) on the wing. I took a touch past the defender and could have went down, but I stayed on my feet and put it left-footed into the bottom corner.
"Scoring's good but the team's playing well and that's really more important. We haven't lost this season and it's good to get off to a good start with two wins.
"My target now is just to work hard and trying to get into the first-team squad. That's my aim - to keep on working, keep on playing well and hopefully to impress the gaffer.
"And hopefully I can have an injury-free season."
United were irresistable at times against the Potters, with widemen Marcus Maddison and JJ Hooper also on target, and Inman admitted that the plush surroundings helped to inspire them.
"I think you get more of a feeling to the game, that it's more important than if you turn up to the training ground and there's not that many people watching," he said. "You don't really get the same feeling for a training ground game.
"But when it's at the stadium it feels like more of a proper game. It was good to play at the stadium and the lads got their passing going.
"I thought the midfield - Conor (Newton) and Michael (Richardson) - played really well. We had three in central midfield which helped us a lot; we had JJ on the left and Marcus on the right which made the pitch big so we had good possession of the ball and that helped on such a big pitch.
"We got off to a good start against Tottenham and against Stoke, scoring five there's not much more we can do - just keep on scoring and hopefully keep on winning."