The Senegalese international blasted home United's second goal in their 6-0 hammering of Preston North End on Tuesday night, before notching his second - and his side's fifth - with a fine curling finish late on as Rafa Benitez's men booked their place in the quarter-finals of the EFL Cup.

And afterwards, Diame said that hard work and perseverance have helped him finally get off the mark for the club he joined in the summer.

"I was happy - very happy. I've been chasing that goal since my Wembley goal," he told nufc.co.uk, referring to his winner for Hull City in the Championship play-off final back in May.

"I was so happy that I got these goals. It wasn't easy to have confidence when you're not scoring goals or not even hitting the target sometimes - I missed one tonight, an easy one.

"But I'm happy to have scored two, and I hope that that will continue.

"When you're a football player and you're playing forward, you know you need to score goals or at least give assists, so of course mentally, it's tough, it's hard.

"But you need to keep going, keep working, and that's what the manager told me. The most important thing is to keep getting the chances, and the goals will come. Tonight, I've scored two so I'm happy."Both Diame and his team could have added to their tally against 10-man Preston, who had Alan Browne dismissed in the first half for an elbow on Jack Colback.

The 29-year-old reserved praise for another player to have bagged a midweek brace, Aleksandar Mitrovic - and, ahead of Wednesday night's draw for the last eight, admitted he does have a team in mind who he'd like to come up against in the next round.

"There had been some great work from Mitro - he did a great job tonight - and I hope we're just going stay like this and keep going," he said.

"This team has a great spirit and mentality. We have a lot of players and a big squad, but I think the staff are managing the players well to keep everyone focussed. I think we just need to keep going.

"Every single game we go out to win it, and the team are working well. I hope we are going to play against Hull - I saw they won 2-1 (against Bristol City), so it would be nice if we could have a draw against Hull and play them. That would be nice for me."

The Magpies travel to Deepdale to face Preston on Saturday for what will be the second time in five days, though Sky Bet Championship points will be at stake this time.

And while Diame is hopeful he can keep his place in Benitez's team, he believes this weekend's encounter will be a vastly different one to Tuesday night's rout in front of a crowd of over 49,000 at St. James' Park.

"I'm always happy to be on the pitch, and when we got the ball, unfortunately for Preston they'd had a red card, so it was easier for us," he said.

"But it's going to be a different game on Saturday. We need to be ready, be prepared, because they will start 11 against 11 and they will be stronger than tonight. We need to stay focussed and be ready."