I’d forgotten how to celebrate, admits Newcastle Utd’s Mike Williamson

Williamson scored in Saturday’s dramatic 3-3 home draw against Crystal Palace.

The defender netted what he thought would prove to be the winner in the 88th minute – only for visiting substitute Wilfried Zaha to claim a Premier League point for Neil Warnock’s side four minutes into injury time.

Williamson tapped the ball home after a shot from Rolando Aarons – who had scored United’s second goal after coming off the bench – struck the post.

And the 30-year-old, who had failed to find the net in 138 previous outings for United, admits he had forgotten how to celebrate, with his last strike having come in August 2009 for Watford.

“It was an unusual feeling, and I didn’t quite know what to do,” said Williamson.

“But it was a fantastic moment, especially to score in front of our fans. It has been a very long time – very overdue – and it was brilliant at the time because I was also hoping it was going to be the last goal of the game.

“I was just following it up because I thought that Rolando was going to score his second goal.

“I was just watching it go in, but it hit the post and came back. Luckily, I was there to tap it in.

“It was an incredible feeling, and I enjoyed every second of it. It made it even more special to do it in front of our home fans. They’re fantastic and they’ve always been brilliant to me.

“When the roar went up as my name was announced, it was fantastic.

“I can’t remember when I last scored, but it was at Watford. It has been long overdue, but hopefully it will open the floodgates now. I’m setting myself a target of double figures for the rest of the season!

“The lads have been giving me lots of stick about my lack of goals. Every day in training Moussa (Sissoko) says to me ‘you will never score’.

“After (the game) he was still saying ‘you haven’t really scored because that should have been Rolando’s goal’. But the lads are brilliant, it’s all just banter.”

Williamson, however, still left St James’s Park frustrated given the defensive lapses that led to Palace’s three goals.

“Unfortunately, the equaliser overshadows it,” he said. “So there are mixed emotions there.

“I will certainly enjoy the goal, and take the positives away from it, but we conceded three sloppy goals defensively, and that’s the frustrating thing.

“We have looked so solid in the first two games, and that is the disappointing part of today.

“With the foundations we’ve set and the standards we set, it’s disappointing to drop below that. What we have to do is combine the solid part with the chances we’ve created, and if we do that, it’ll be an exciting season.

“We feel like we’ve got a lot of promise in the team, but the new players need time to settle too.

“Most of them have come from different leagues and, for me, the Premier League is one of the most exciting, but also the most physical, and I think it will take a bit of time for the players to get used to it.

“But I think the performances in the first three games have shown that the new boys have taken to it quite well, and as a team, we’ve gelled, off the pitch especially.”