Hughton hails Magpies desire

Strachan questions match officials

Last updated: 13th March 2010   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Hughton hails Magpies desire

Hughton: Happy with derby showing

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Chris Hughton feels his side can never be written off after watching Newcastle snatch a point at Middlesbrough.

The Magpies, who initially led the Tees-Tyne derby courtesy of Peter Lovenkrands' opener, appeared to be heading towards defeat at the Riverside Stadium entering the final 10 minutes.

Barry Robson and Scott McDonald had turned the tie in favour of the hosts, but Andy Carroll struck with eight minutes left on the clock to seal a hard-earned point.

While the stalemate allowed second-placed West Brom to close within four points of the summit, Hughton was still pleased with the performance put in by his players.

"What we have always had this season is we are never out of a game," he said.

Fortune

"I can think of games where we have lost - at Blackpool, where we were very much still in the game towards the end; Scunthorpe was a game we lost that we were still very much in at the end and had the better chances.

"That's one thing we have in this group of lads, a real desire not to give up, and you just hope among all that, you have a bit of fortune in front of goal."

Hughton has also hailed the much-improved Carroll, after watching the youngster find the target against Boro despite being well short of his best.

He said: "What you saw in Andy today was a player who is in good goalscoring form.

"By our admission and his own, it wasn't one of his better games today and the chance he had was very much a half-chance.

"But this is a lad who is in good goalscoring form and when you are in that type of form, they are the type of goals you score."

Brave

Meanwhile, Boro boss Gordon Strachan was left disappointed as he felt his side should have had an early penalty when Fabricio Coloccini clattered into McDonald.

He said: "We should have had a penalty in the first two minutes, and the referee (Lee Mason) just to make it up, allowed us to get away with a free-kick 30 seconds after it.

"If you are going to make a decision, referee, don't try to even it up. It's not right, we don't want that.

"Be brave and stand by your decisions."

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