Hughton salutes Spiderman

Hughton: Pulling clear

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Chris Hughton saluted Jonas Gutierrez after the Argentine shone in Newcastle's 6-1 mauling of Barnsley.

The 26-year-old winger unveiled his famed Spiderman mask for the first time in English football on Saturday after notching the Magpies' fourth.

Hughton had little interest in the elaborate celebration unveiled by his South American, but was delighted with Gutierrez's overall impact on a game which helped cement Newcastle's standing at the top of the Championship.

"I don't know if it was worth the wait, but it was a wonderful goal," he said.

"For us, the most important thing is his overall contribution and we can't fault that.

"He was excellent today, a player playing with real confidence.

"As a player, can he add more goals to his game? Yes, I think he can, but the most important thing is if he keeps giving us contributions like that, we will certainly be happy with that."

The convincing win took Newcastle eight points clear at the summit, but Hughton insists no-one at St James' Park will be taking anything for granted.

He said: "I don't think you can. As good as we were today, we have some very tough games coming up and we are also aware that a couple of poor results, a couple of defeats, others getting wins, life becomes harder and the gap becomes tighter, so I don't think you can afford to."

Pivotal

Meanwhile, Barnsley boss Mark Robins was left to rue the first half of dismissal of goalkeeper Luke Steele, which turned the game in Newcastle's favour.

"The disappointment was the sending-off, because that was the pivotal moment in the game," he said.

"It's dubious whether there was any contact made, but I am told by the referee now that the rule is that it's a trip or an attempt to trip in the penalty area, so I don't know.

"The goalkeeper tells me he didn't make any contact and Peter Lovenkrands confirmed that after the game. He never touched him, but he had to go down."