Newcastle's Bruce pleased with Fraser after winger scores on debut

Newcastle United manager Steve Bruce has hailed the impact of new signing Ryan Fraser after the Scottish winger scored on his debut in Tuesday's 1-0 League Cup win over Championship (second-tier) side Blackburn Rovers.

Fraser left Bournemouth at the end of his contract in June after he opted against a short-term extension on the Premier League's restart following the hiatus due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The 26-year-old joined fellow new arrivals Callum Wilson and Jeff Hendrick in scoring on their Newcastle debuts after the duo netted in Saturday's 2-0 league win at West Ham United.

"Considering he hasn't played since March, his effort, endeavour and enthusiasm was there for everybody to see," Bruce said of Fraser.

"The only bit of quality we showed all night was the goal. It was a great ball, a great run and Ryan stuck it in well."

Bruce's team will face Morecambe in the third round of the competition next week. They return to league action against Brighton & Hove Albion on Sunday.

"We aren't going to say anything other than we were fortunate. I was wary people needed games, but thankfully we got away with it," Bruce added.

"We'll have had six games in two-and-a-half weeks. That game has made sure some of them have got football in their legs."

Meanwhile, West Ham manager David Moyes hopes Sebastien Haller's double in Tuesday's 3-0 League Cup win over Charlton Athletic will be a platform for the French striker to kick on this season.

West Ham signed Haller from Eintracht Frankfurt in July 2019 for a reported club record fee of 45 million pounds ($58.08 million) but the 26-year-old managed only seven league goals in his first season.

"It was great that Seb scored a couple of goals, it really is, because we need our forward players to be feeling confident about it. The two goals tonight I'm sure will help him," Moyes told reporters.

"We had Michail Antonio scoring for us at the end of last season and now we hope Seb gets on a run of scoring goals."

Moyes said midfielder Jack Wilshere, who has been linked with a move away from the club, missed the match due to an ankle problem.

- Reuters