Water Temp Gauge Needle

I had to replace the tach unit in my 2000GTV, so I decided to tidy up inside of the instrument pod. I noticed that I had some paint coming off of the water temp needle and when I touched it, it bent. I straightened it out, sort of, and repainted it, but now it seems to set mid-gauge, not swinging back to zero. Is this a problem, or once connected, will it function normally? "If it ain't broke don't fix it" strikes again.............

Thanks