Newcastle United boss Alan Pardew is happy for Demba Ba after his hat-trick in victory over Blackburn Rovers.

Pardew was convinced Ba would score goals for his pacey young side which has recovered quickly to the deconstruction of the squad which returned to the top flight. They remain unbeaten and fourth.

Pardew said: "Demba is a good guy. He said to me when I signed him that he was going to fight for the team. Him and Leon Best had as good a game as a strike-force since I've been at this club.

"I wasn't worried about his injury record because I'm connected at West Ham and I knew that he trained every day. I don't need a surgeon to tell me. If a player is out there every day training at Premier League, then he's ok. I said when he signed that he'd score me goals and I said he will get all sorts of goals.

"I'm really pleased for him because it's an important place. It's not easy being a striker at Newcastle, whether you're a big name or not. There is huge pressure to deliver. I talked about that when he signed, because it's different to West Ham, where there's a different type of pressure.

"Here you need to score goals - it's very very important."