Hughton: Ugly football but we’re sitting pretty

Aug 20 2009 by Mark Douglas, The Journal

CHRIS Hughton reckoned Newcastle United proved that they could win ugly as they came through a stern examination of their Championship promotion credentials against a fired up Sheffield Wednesday.

Thanks to another match-winning intervention from Shola Ameobi, United secured their second win in four days to rise to third in the Championship.

And although Hughton admitted the performance was far removed from their barnstorming victory against Reading on Saturday, he was delighted with the resilience and character that they showed against Wednesday.

“I am pleased that we have maintained the good work from Saturday and I’m equally as pleased with the manner in which we did it,” United’s caretaker boss said.

“I don’t think we were as good as we were on Saturday when we scored the three goals against Reading but we had to look for different qualities against a very good Sheffield Wednesday side who passed the ball well and were a threat.

“We had to show resilience and character and I think we showed that, which was very pleasing. We showed enough battling qualities to keep a clean sheet and get us over the line.”

Hughton – who said Andrew Carroll had been taken off as a precaution with a “very, very slight groin strain” – also paid tribute to the 40,000-plus United fans who turned up to watch their team. “I thought the crowd were wonderful and their support was much appreciated. I thought it helped us get through those worrying moments towards the end of the game,” he said.

“We most definitely don’t take their support for granted. We’ve got to give them something to turn up in their thousands for.

“The most important thing for them is to give them a win. As long as we continue to put ourselves in a good position they will keep coming.”