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'We were fortunate to win, but we deserved our luck' - Newcastle boss Alan Pardew
The Magpies manager has conceded his side were far from their best, but is happy with their effort as they maintain their push for a Champions League spot
1 Feb 2012 23:52:00
By Shane Farrington
Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew has admitted his team were lucky to pick up their 2-0 win at Blackburn Rovers on Wednesday, but believes they deserved a change in fortunes.
A Scott Dann own goal early in the match and a cool finish from second-half substitute Gabriel Obertan handed the Magpies an important three points as they bid to land a European place.
With the three points, Newcastle are now fifth, three points behind fourth-placed Chelsea, and Pardew is thankful his side have luck on their side once again as they downed a resurgent Blackburn side.
“To be honest we’ve dug in all year that’s why we’ve found ourselves where we are, some tremendous defending,” he told Sky Sports.
“Blackburn are in good form and they made it very, very difficult for us tonight. We had the breaks in the game which we didn’t get at Brighton and you need that sometimes and that was probably the difference tonight.
With the opening goal coming from a Blackburn defender, it was suggested that luck was on their side, and when asked if he felt Newcastle were owed such a goal, Pardew agreed.
He continued: “Yeah, but we also we had some breaks defensively but we were due a little bit [luck] and unfortunately for Blackburn we got a little bit of fortune tonight but also some tremendous play."
The former West Ham boss also praised the efforts of Tim Krul in goal and former Manchester United winger Gabriel Obertan, whose goal secured the win.
He added: “The goalie was calm and I thought he was excellent. It was excellent to see Obertan get the goal because he is making a nice little niche for himself.”
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A Scott Dann own goal early in the match and a cool finish from second-half substitute Gabriel Obertan handed the Magpies an important three points as they bid to land a European place.
With the three points, Newcastle are now fifth, three points behind fourth-placed Chelsea, and Pardew is thankful his side have luck on their side once again as they downed a resurgent Blackburn side.
“To be honest we’ve dug in all year that’s why we’ve found ourselves where we are, some tremendous defending,” he told Sky Sports.
“Blackburn are in good form and they made it very, very difficult for us tonight. We had the breaks in the game which we didn’t get at Brighton and you need that sometimes and that was probably the difference tonight.
With the opening goal coming from a Blackburn defender, it was suggested that luck was on their side, and when asked if he felt Newcastle were owed such a goal, Pardew agreed.
He continued: “Yeah, but we also we had some breaks defensively but we were due a little bit [luck] and unfortunately for Blackburn we got a little bit of fortune tonight but also some tremendous play."
The former West Ham boss also praised the efforts of Tim Krul in goal and former Manchester United winger Gabriel Obertan, whose goal secured the win.
He added: “The goalie was calm and I thought he was excellent. It was excellent to see Obertan get the goal because he is making a nice little niche for himself.”
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| Open an account with Sportingbet today and get up to £50 in free bets! |
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| Sign up with William Hill for a free bet up to £25 |
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| Sign up with bet365 for a free bet up to £200 |
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Live!
England 1-0 Belgium, Netherlands 4-0 Northern Ireland - follow all the international action LIVE! ahead of Euro 2012
With countries across the continent gearing up for their final warm-up games ahead of Euro 2012, join us for all the action from Saturday's friendlies. Get in touch with us via Twitter with your reaction.
Hosted by Joe Doyle
Hosted by Joe Doyle
19:59 BST
Unfortunately for Northern Ireland, they are trailing the Netherlands 4-0 at half-time. Looks like that one's all sewn up then.
19:54 BST
We're still getting plenty of Hazard chat on Twitter. A few are now saying that he's not worth the hype, others saying he was brilliant(!?) and others (which I agree with), saying he created much of his own hype. What do you think? Get involved!
19:46 BST
Joe Hart has also been giving his thoughts after the Belgium game: "It was a really tough game, a good run out. I thought we played well, [but] we were a little bit bitty at times.
"But, we came through. Obviously there were a lot of changes so it's good to get the result.
"Belgium are a very, very strong side who are going to be really good in the future. Vincent [Kompany] told me about them and said that they were coming good and I totally agree with him."
"But, we came through. Obviously there were a lot of changes so it's good to get the result.
"Belgium are a very, very strong side who are going to be really good in the future. Vincent [Kompany] told me about them and said that they were coming good and I totally agree with him."
19:38 BST
Here's Roy Hodgson's reaction to the result and some injury chat: "I'm very pleased, it's been a hard week and we've used a lot of players. There was a lot of disruption in the second-half with substitutions – some forced upon us, some we wanted to do. But it's still a very good end to the week playing against a good Belgian team here. Arguably even stronger than the Norwegian team we played last week and I've got to be more than happy that we've come out with another victory."
"[Gary] Cahill I suppose is slightly more of a concern for me because it is a jaw injury. We're desperately hoping the CT scan doesn't show any fracture and it's just going to be a bruising situation, which will be bad enough, but won't stop him taking part in the tournament. As far as John's [Terry] concerned he felt his hamstring a little bit. Again it wasn't a major thing when he came off but we still need to scan it just to be 100 per cent sure."
Suffice to say, if Cahill has broken his jaw, he won't play any part in the tournament.
"[Gary] Cahill I suppose is slightly more of a concern for me because it is a jaw injury. We're desperately hoping the CT scan doesn't show any fracture and it's just going to be a bruising situation, which will be bad enough, but won't stop him taking part in the tournament. As far as John's [Terry] concerned he felt his hamstring a little bit. Again it wasn't a major thing when he came off but we still need to scan it just to be 100 per cent sure."
Suffice to say, if Cahill has broken his jaw, he won't play any part in the tournament.
19:35 BST
And another point from today: Eden Hazard wasn't great. Don't think you can judge him on one performance though. What do you think? Is it just a case of too much hype around the Chelsea-bound Belgian?
Inside Goal.Com
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