Nicklas Bendtner sidestepped any comparisons with Thierry Henry as neatly as he did Colchester United's defence after a delicious debut for Birmingham City.

The 18-year-old only arrived in Birmingham on Thursday and completed just one solitary training session before stamping his mark on the Championship in style.

Bendtner's 33-minute cameo role was sufficient evidence for home supporters to realise they have a new cult hero on their hands.

Energetic, committed and skilful, Bendtner looked perfectly at ease within the rough and tumble of the Championship after learning his trade at Arsenal.

The Gunners have allowed Bendtner to further his footballing education at St Andrew's and the talented striker is happy to be plying his trade in the Championship.

"Coming to Birmingham is a development stage for me and it's important for me," admitted Bendtner.

"Rather than playing for the reserves all the time I'll be playing in games where every point counts and everyone is being everyone so it's a big difference.

"Arsene Wenger did speak to me about the move but I'd like to keep that to myself, please.

"He knows and I know that it's better for me to play here than the reserves. I only found out about the move this week because I had just come back from the pre-season tour to Austria.

"I'm just happy to be here. You learn from all the good players around you [at Arsenal] and just need to take on board as much as you can. You learn different things from different players. I'm a different type of player to him [Thierry Henry] but I can learn things from him and other things from other players.

"I was happy with my debut. The lads gave everything they had. We got the three points without playing as well as we can, which is good."

Bendtner is used to making a grand entrance after indulging in similar feats for Denmark. As the youngest player ever to be selected for the Denmark Under-21 squad, he made a lasting impression with a two-goal salvo against Spain.

There is no doubting he is a prodigious talent and he plundered 18 goals in 24 reserve team appearances for Arsenal last term.

"I settled quickly, but it helped going into a good team. At the moment I have six months here and my target is to go as far as I can with Birmingham and hopefully get them back into the Premiership at the end of the season."