Less than 24 hours after confirming a season-long loan move to Accrington Stanley, Tariq Uwakwe scored a hat-trick for the Sky Bet League One side in their EFL Trophy game against Leeds United Under-21.
In his first competitive game since March, the 20-year-old needed just four minutes to find the net when capitalising on a defensive error to finish low into an empty net with his left foot from about 20 yards out.
Stanley ended up running out 7-0 winners with Uwakwe scoring the third and final goal while also providing one assist and helping to set up another by delivering a corner.
"It was really just how I wanted to start," Uwakwe told his new club's in-house media. "To score a hat-trick on my debut is the best feeling.
"It's always great to get a big win. We've got a big game on Saturday so we'll keep working towards that. I played one friendly before getting here so to come here, get 90 minutes and score a hat-trick is special."
The versatile England Under-20 player has joined Stanley for the entire campaign and scored his hat-trick as a very attack-minded left wing back.
"I'm just trying to adapt as quickly as possible and my team-mates are helping me get used to it," he added. "I've played in so many positions I've lost count myself but I don't mind - as long as I'm on the pitch I'll do a job for the team.
"There's a lot of adjusting to do - certain things off the field that I haven't done yet but once you get on the pitch everything calms down again.
