Steve McClaren praises Jack Butland after standout display
Saturday 31 October 2015 19:20, UK
Steve McClaren was left smarting after a stunning individual performance from Stoke City's Jack Butland denied Newcastle victory at St James' Park.
Newcastle peppered the Potters' goal to no avail in an encouraging display following last weekend's Wear-Tyne derby drubbing, but Butland was in inspired form, repeatedly thwarting the hosts' attempts.
"Jack Butland was the difference between us getting one point and three points today, but for him we would have won the game," McClaren told Sky Sports.
"When you look at the future of English goalkeepers, the future is bright. It's not for me to say whether he should be England No 1 but I know he's an excellent goalkeeper who is progressing in the years since I last saw him.
"We did everything to win the game and he was the difference."
With a trip to Bournemouth next on the cards for McClaren's side, the Toon manager was quick to draw positives from Saturday's display before refocusing his sights on claiming the victories their positive performances merit.
He added: "We wondered what we were going to get today after the derby game, and again we got a good performance with some excellent individual performances, good football and we created chances.
"Right to the end we didn't stop, the game got more open and we went for the win. We had two really good chances at the end but again we were denied, but plenty of positives.
The big plus was keeping a clean sheet but we didn't score when we should have scored, similar to last week.
"But that's normal, you're scoring goals and then you're not scoring goals and conceding. It's a merry-go-round but in the long term we'll hang on in there, if we keep going this way we'll be OK.
"The last five or six performances have been really good, particularly the last three. We didn't get the rewards last week and we didn't really get them this week.
"But if we keep playing like that, keep believing, keep the confidence and keep the crowd behind us, which was important all the way through, we'll be OK."
