The Ulsterman cracked a debut goal to send Nottingham Forest crashing out of the Carling Cup – and spare the Black Cats' blushes after it looked they might fall at the first hurdle for the third time in a row.

His extra-time winner gave Sunderland passage into the third round on a night of firsts that also saw Phil Bardsley break his duck.

Healy was pleased to open his account – but is greedy for plenty more.
The former Fulham hitman said: "It's great to get an early goal for the club.

"I was being shown round the club by Niall Quinn last week when I signed and he was so excited about the progress being made at the club.

"He remembers some happy days at Sunderland when he and Kevin Phillips were scoring plenty of goals.

"His enthusiasm certainly rubs off on you and with the squad the gaffer is building there's a lot of optimism.

"With the creativity in this squad I think there will be plenty of goals in us and I want to get my fair share."

Healy was an unused sub during Saturday's 2-1 Premier League victory at Spurs, where Djibril Cisse was the debut supersub by notching the winner.

"I'd hoped to get things started at the weekend, but it wasn't to be and I can't expect to walk straight into the side with such quality players around," said Healy.

"I knew I had to take my chance when it came along and thankfully I got myself off the mark.

"The main thing is that we're in the hat for the next round because Forest gave us a very tough game."

Healy limped away from the City Ground after being hurt in a tackle, joining a casualty list that also included Steed Malbranque, Cisse and Danny Collins.

But the Northern Ireland international is confident of bouncing back for Sunday's home clash with Manchester City.

"I got a knock on my knee but I'll be ok," he said.

"A few lads were struggling a bit, but it shows we're a fit squad to come through it.

"I'm looking forward to Sunday now. I know what the big crowd is like at the Stadium of Light and any player would relish playing in front of these fans.

"When I heard last week that Fulham had accepted Sunderland's offer, I was chuffed to bits because I know the potential of this club and if we can get it right on the pitch now then there could be some exciting times.

"We'll get nowhere without hard work, though, and I think we showed at Forest that we'll dig deep to do the business."