Sam's sympathy for Niko

It wasn't the memorable debut that Nikola Kalinić had hoped for on Saturday.

As expected Kalinić was named on the substitutes bench for the match against Sunderland, but an early injury to Franco Di Santo meant a swift introduction to life in the Barclays Premier League.

And although the young Croatian got in some good goalscoring positions on a number of occasions, it was one of those days for Kalinić.

"Perhaps it was a lack of match practice, a little bit of nerves on his debut, but he's got there three times today and got in three goalscoring positions on his first outing away from home in the Premier League," said his boss Sam Allardyce after the match at the Stadium of Light.

"So that looks pretty promising to me.

"Yes he is disappointed he didn't find the finish we know he has got in his locker but perhaps that is just a lack of match practice and nerves coming on for Blackburn in the biggest league in the world.

"The good thing is he was there to miss them, but the sad thing is we came away with nothing."