TEEMU PUKKI insisted that his hat-trick for Norwich against Newcastle on Saturday was the stuff of dreams for a player picked up on a free transfer and playing in the Championship last summer.

The Finnish forward fired the Canaries ahead with a sweetly struck volley at Carrow Road and added two more inside 12 minutes of the second half to take the game away from the visitors.

Pukki was released by Danish side Brondby in the summer of 2018 before Norwich brought him in. He repaid that faith by finishing the 2018-19 season as the top goalscorer in the Championship as part of the champion Canaries — though never scored a hat-trick.

In doing so on Saturday he ended a 26-year, 266-match top-flight hat-trick drought for his club.

He told Match of the Day: “That was one of the best games I’ve had here.

“A hat-trick in the Premier League is something I couldn’t even dream of a couple of years ago.”

Norwich boss Daniel Farke felt the win would do wonders for his side’s confidence.

He said: “It is important to get off the mark as quickly as possible and to do this immediately in the home game against such a good side like Newcastle is outstanding and good for the mood, good for the self-confidence.

“It’s always good to have the first win under your belt.”

Steve Bruce, whose side had only an injury-time consolation goal from Jonjo Shelvey to show for their efforts, insisted there was no lack of desire from his players but admitted they needed to improve in “a lot of departments.”

“Make no mistake, we’ve only been here four, four-and-a-half weeks and we’ll go again next week and improve and can be better,” he said.