TONY McMahon feels Charlie Wyke will relish the spotlight as City's attacking kingpin.

The £250,000 capture from Carlisle needed only 14 minutes to open his account for the club against Gillingham.

It was Wyke's 14th goal in his last 17 appearances and earned him instant adulation with the Valley Parade fans.

Amid the frustration of a tenth home draw, McMahon insisted the striker's arrival after James Hanson left for Sheffield United is a pick-me-up for everyone.

He said: "Charlie's come here with big expectations on his shoulders. This club haven't spent quarter of a million pounds for a long time.

"Hans was a great servant for this club and scored a lot of goals. Charlie has come in as his replacement and everyone is well aware of the transfer fee.

"But he's given everyone a lift. You could see that with the players when we saw him come in to training.

"He's settled in quickly but he's a typical Middlesbrough lad – daft as a brush. Nothing fazes him and he just gets on with it.

"Marshy (Mark Marshall) put a peach of a ball in for him and it just wanted that big number nine to head it in. Thankfully Charlie was on the spot, so he'll be relieved.

"He'll be high on confidence anyway, so he'll be buzzing to get a goal so early on his debut.

"He held the ball up well and linked up with Billy (Clarke) and I think they'll get a good partnership going."

Wyke, City's most expensive recruit since August 2000, took his goals tally for the season to 19 and continued his run from Carlisle of scoring in six successive home games.

Stuart McCall said: "It will give him a lot of confidence. You always want to hit the ground running, especially when you come as a striker and with a bit of a price tag.

"All strikers will tell you they need service and it was a fantastic ball by Marshall.

"The lad is unassuming. He just gets on with it and I'm sure he'll enjoy playing with us if he gets that service."

Wyke and McMahon had overturned Josh Wright's opener for Gillingham but the visitors hit back early in the second half through Deji Oshilaja to earn a point.

City's ten home draws are by far the most in the country – Aston Villa are the closest with seven in the Championship.

McCall said: "That stat's there and we can't do anything about it – but it's not through lack of effort.

"We do absolutely everything we can. We nearly got caught at the end because we had eight bodies in their box but Romain (Vincelot) made a fantastic challenge.

"The lads have got the desire to try to win the game. Teams come and sit in and it's for us to break them down. I thought we did that and played some good stuff.

"I'm not going to be downbeat about it. We know what a good group of players we've got in the dressing room.

"The spirit and togetherness is fantastic and when you're in charge of a group like that, you've always got the belief that you'll do well.

"We've got some cracking games coming up and the players will really relish going down to Bristol Rovers next week."