Keegan heartened by battling point

Mar 18 2008 by Luke Edwards, The Journal

KEVIN Keegan is confident Newcastle United have finally found a platform to launch their survival push after Michael Owen’s equaliser secured a battling point against Birmingham City last night.

United were forced to fight their way back into the game after a poor first-half performance, particularly by the defence, was punished by James McFadden’s strike.

But the Magpies rallied after half time and were by far the better side in the second period as they went in search of an equaliser, and then what would have been a priceless winner.

And Keegan, having seen his side end a run of four successive defeats, believes the spirit and determination shown after the break were some of the most encouraging things he has seen since he returned to St James’s Park two months ago.

“We said at half time to the players that if you lose this game to a goal like that without showing a bit more creativity, then I’ve picked the wrong side,” said Keegan, who dropped both Alan Smith and Damien Duff from the starting line-up in favour of a more attacking 4-3-3 formation.

“And we got a reaction in the second half, which was more like the performance I expected when I picked the side. The challenge was finding a performance after conceding a poor goal and the second half was more like it.

“We showed determination and character away from home. We were the team in the ascendancy after the break and we might have won it at the end. When you look at the names on our teamsheet we should not be down at the bottom, but we are and now we have to get out of it. We’ve got to show another side of our character, it’s a different challenge for a lot of them, but I’ve never doubted them. I have never criticised their attitude and we’ll take the positives from this game.”

Nevertheless, although a draw was a decent result, it was not the win which would have silenced the club’s critics and Keegan admitted it was a game they could have taken even more from.

He added: “I’ve come away with mixed emotions. I don’t know if it’s a good point or we’ve dropped two because we didn’t win the game. The performance in the second half was very encouraging for me. I think it’ll encourage the players.

“In the dressing room there was a buzz about the place again, it was a game we should have won, but we’ll take that buzz into the game against Fulham.”

Having taken the decision to recall Martins and Viduka, it was Owen who salvaged

the draw with a typical piece of opportunism in front of goal, toe-poking home from close range after Maik Taylor had failed to hold on to an effort by Martins.

And Keegan was lavish in the praise of his skipper, who he insisted remains a world-class striker, whatever England coach Fabio Capello may or may not think.

He said: “Anyone who saw the Blackburn game will know Michael could have had four or five. He missed those chances, which is very unusual for him, but the good thing is we are starting to create a few more for him. If we do that he’ll stick them in.

“Some people in this country might be lacking a bit of faith in him, but I’m not. His record for Newcastle United is superb and he is a world-class player by anybody’s standards. He is a world-class striker and you cannot ignore that.

“Michael always has the chance to answer his critics on the pitch and he’s such a strong character he’ll do that. You see it in training every day. His performances and work-rate have been absolutely outstanding since I came to the club.”

Keegan also denied there were any problems between himself and Martins after the Nigerian international’s amateur dramatics following his substitution late in the game.

Keegan said: “I haven’t got a problem with him. He’s smaller than me. I would hate players to come off and do cartwheels.

“I just said to him afterwards that I know it hurts but it was tactical, it wasn’t a reflection on his performance. He had every right to be disappointed, but there’s no problem, we won’t fight over it.”

Birmingham boss Alex McLeish was upbeat despite seeing his side surrender their first-half advantage as they moved two points clear of the bottom three and leapfrogged Sunderland into 16th place.

He said: “I think Newcastle deserved something for their second-half performance after the first half had belonged to us. We couldn’t get the second goal that would have given us some breathing space. Newcastle have many influential players and they caused us problems in the second half, but we are continuing to pick up points. At the end of the season, points like this might be like gold dust and we are difficult to beat at home.”

The downside for McLeish was a first-half knee injury to midfielder Sebastian Larsson after a challenge from Newcastle midfielder Nicky Butt. McLeish said: “We lost a bit of impetus when he went off. He has been exceptional for us this year.”