19 year old Ireland international Greg Cunningham said that Saturday's Championship defeat at Swansea was a tough start to his loan spell at Leicester City.
The Galway born defender was thrown into the action at the Liberty Stadium just 48 hours after completing the loan switch until January from Manchester City.
Cunningham replaced the more experienced Bruno Berner at left-back and had a gripping personal duel with flying Swans winger Nathan Dyer as well as picking up a cut knee.
Cunningham said: "It was a tough game against a team who knocked it around well."
His battle with Dyer was one of the eye-catching duels of the day and it was about honours even at the end.
The youngster said: "He is a very good player and it was a test for me but I tried to stick to the task."
Cunningham was also in the wars and had to leave the field for treatment during the second half of the contest before returning to complete the 90 minutes.
"I got accidentally caught on the knee by Chris Weale's studs. They wanted to stitch it but I said that would take too long as I wanted to get back out there and stitch it later."
Cunningham's City's debut completed a whirlwind few days for the youngster.
He said: "I played for our reserves on Tuesday night at Wigan and then I was told Leicester wanted me on loan so I went there on Wednesday and met the lads for training on Thursday. They are a great bunch who really made me welcome. I want to play as much as I can while I'm here because I can already see it is a fantastic club with great fans."
City boss Sven-Goran Eriksson was in charge of Manchester City during Cunningham's first year at Eastlands, although their paths rarely crossed.
Cunningham said: "He was with the first-team squad at Carrington while I was with the Academy at Platt Lane so I didn't see him much.
"However, he had a good season and he has proved to be a good manager wherever he has gone."
His long-term aim will be to impress current Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini as he looks to add to his Carling Cup appearance at West Brom earlier in the season, an appearance that rules him out of Leicester's clash with the Baggies tomorrow night.
He said: "I'll just work hard each day and try to get as many games as I can between now and January and see what happens."
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