GINO van Kessel lived up to his promise about scaring defenders in Sky Bet League One with an outstanding goal three minutes into his Oxford United career.

The 24-year-old substitute appeared to be going nowhere, but in a flash beat two men and scored the all-important second goal in the U’s 3-0 victory against Portsmouth.

Van Kessel was not short of confidence when he signed on a season-long loan deal from Slavia Prague on Thursday – and was thrilled to back up the bold prediction about frightening opponents on the pitch.

“I think I did it,” he said.

“One of the central defenders tried to kick me down even when the ball was not close.

“Maybe he is scared for the next game.”

He added: “I did everything to score a goal and be important, because it was only 1-0.

“If they scored they would try to go for the three points, so I tried everything to make it 2-0. And when you do that ten minutes from the end, you know the three points are almost there.”

Wes Thomas opened the scoring in a tight game early in the second half, with Josh Ruffels adding the final flourish in stoppage-time.

But it was Van Kessel’s goal which had the home fans in the 9,510-strong crowd buzzing.

He said: “I expected the pass five or six metres in front of me, so I could go one-on-one, but the ball came a little bit behind me, so I had to make some tricks.

“I took the ball and made a move as if I was turning back, so the defender went left as I turned right.

“Then there was one more and I put the ball into space, the goalie didn’t come out so it was an easy finish.”

United had only received international clearance for the Curacao forward on Friday afternoon and he did not know he would be in the squad until Saturday morning, when he woke up to a message from boss Pep Clotet.

But despite only being in the country for a matter of days, Van Kessel knew where to run after scoring.

He said: “There were many fans sending me messages on social media, even before I signed.

“It was a really warm welcome and a lot of fans told me behind the goal are the great fans, so I was really happy I could score at that end.”