It took Washington Spirit and Nigeria forward Gift Monday all of four minutes to make her mark at her debut Women's Africa Cup of Nations tournament.
Thrown into the fray after Asisat Oshoala hobbled off oafter 40 minutes due to a slight knock, the 24-year-old wasted no time making her presence felt.
Four minutes after coming on, she worked her into the end of a sizzling low cross from the effervescent Rinsola Babajide, to jab home from close range with her left foot.
It was one of the better worked goals by the Super Falcons. Babajide had taken a short corner from Toni Payne, then proceeded to glide her way past one marker before sending in the low cross.
And Monday made it look easy. The Spirit forward, with three markers around her, bid her time, then peeled away from the Egyptian defenders at the last minute to take the cross with one touch. A simple goal, but one that was the purest exhibition of Monday's fox in the box skills.
That goal handed the Super Falcons a comfortable 2-0 lead, after Oshoala had put them in front from the spot, and while a large scoreline was not needed for qualification, it did make life easier in the peace of mind stakes.
But that was not all Monday did. She went on to contribute pre-assists for two other goals. Overall, her performance that showed exactly why fans were so adamant about having the striker in the side.
Monday was a controversial leave-out from Nigeria's squad to the last WAFCON tournament, especially as she was enjoying an impressive first season in the NWSL after joining Washington from Spain's UD Tenerife.
Such was the outcry over her omission that only the Super Falcons eventual triumph quelled the discontent. Nigeria coach Justin Madugu was not about to risk the wrath of the fans this time, and named the 24-year-old in his squad.
But with so little preparation time, and the striker being last to arrive at the team's camp along with Spirit teammate Deborah Abiodun due to flight issues, Madugu opted to stick with his tried and trusted personnel.
And so Monday had not played a minute in the Super Falcons' opening two games of the tournament, before getting the call to replace the injured Oshoala, and how she made it count.
"I feel really happy," Monday said after the game. "I am so honoured. I feel grateful for the opportunity and also for the chance that I got and all thanks to my teammates.
"I'm also grateful to my teammate for creating the opportunity for me to score."
It was an opportunity that had been a long time coming for Monday. After her snub from the last tournament, she was again overlooked for Nigeria's WAFCON qualifiers against Benin Republic in October, before earning a recall for friendlies against Cameroon earlier this year.
Despite being relegated to the bench through Nigeria's first two group games, Monday said she had no complaints about her lack of minutes.
"As a player, I so much believe in opportunities and time, and as you can see, the girls that have been playing have been doing fantastically well," she said.
"The most important thing is that we are getting the results as a team, which is very good for me and also for the team."
Madugu said Monday's patience was an example of what the coaching staff had been trying to impress on players who had seen limited action through the early part of the tournament.
With Nigeria expecting to play six games if they reach the final, Madugu said managing his squad and keeping players ready to step in when required would be important.
"It's a long tournament," Madugu told reporters. "We are expecting to play six games and given the timing of matches in this competition, you really must know how to manage your players very well.
"We have the intentions of making sure that we manage our players very well, so that we can sustain the performance of the team and not allow the selection of players drop the standards."
To keep his players happy through the rotation, Madugu said the coaching staff had also been speaking with players who were yet to feature to make sure they remained prepared to seize their opportunity when called upon.
"We keep speaking with the ones that are not playing, just to get them ready, because anything can happen at any time," he said.
"You must be in touch with everybody in the team, to make sure that at any stage in the course of the competition that they have to come in, they are ready, not just physically, but mentally and psychologically, so that you can get the best out of them.
"That we have been doing, and we know in the course of this competition, they will all have the opportunity to also showcase what they can also do for the team."
Monday's performance gives Madugu another option going into Sunday's quarterfinal against Cameroon, with Oshoala, Kanu, Omewa, Esther Okoronkwo, Chinwendu Ihezuo and Folashade Ijamilusi all fighting for places up top.
The coach admits that competition for places has made team selection increasingly difficult: "Having good players in the team is a good headache.
"But it's not easy for us as coaches when you have a lot of players that are good. When you come to team selection, you have to go into a lot of details in trying to determine who does what.
"With the current crop of players that we have, we have to battle sometimes, argue, discuss, look at a lot of things before we finally decide on who comes in to play."
As Nigeria get ready to take on Cameroon in the quarterfinal, Monday is hoping her performance against Egypt will be enough to earn her another opportunity, but said she was not taking her place against Cameroon for granted.
"I'm just going to go back to the training ground, try to push myself, try to improve in my game because I feel like even with the result we got in that game, I feel like I can still do better," she said.
