Antoni Sarcevic played 45 minutes on his Stockport County debut but it ended in defeat away to Notts County.
The 29-year-old left Bolton Wanderers on Friday in a shock move out of nowhere, with him dropping down to the National League and signing a contract until 2024.
One day after joining the club, Sarcevic found himself on the pitch earlier than expected as he was introduced at half time to replace Paddy Madden.
Stockport however went two-nil down as Kyle Wootton and Frank Vincent scored second half goals on 54 and 68 minutes.
Sarcevic did win a penalty deep into injury time, which was converted by Ben Whitfield, but he and his new team-mates left Nottingham empty handed.
The result left Stockport sitting 10th in the table.
READ MORE : Ian Evatt on Antoni Sarcevic replacement search and conversation over Bolton Wanderers departure
When asked about his new recruit, County boss Simon Rusk said : "Yeah really pleased, I thought he showed some moments of experience and quality today.
"I think he will be a great addition for us and we are finding a way at the minute, in terms of getting that balance of what we want on the pitch.
"I am not hiding behind injuries, we are really disappointed with the performance and result but it doesn't help when you do lose such significant players going into these games.
"We need to find a balance that really suits us both with and without the ball, and move on."
