Hughton pleased with United's fighting spirit

Aug 27 2009 by Stuart Rayner, The Journal

NEWCASTLE were almost made to pay for the lack of experience at the heart of their defence last night, but caretaker manager Chris Hughton reassured supporters it was not a sign of things to come.

The Magpies showed great character to recover from 3-1 down to win a thrilling League Cup third round tie 4-3 against an equally spirited Huddersfield Town side.

United used the game to field some of their less experienced players – and it showed in a team showing both the naivete and the zest of youth.

Newcastle were missing their first-choice pairing of Steven Taylor and Fabricio Coloccini, but Hughton stressed it was not a sign that the pair are about to be sold.

“They were certainly poor goals we conceded,” Hughton admitted. “The second goal (for Huddersfield, a penalty converted by Theo Robinson) we felt was offside, but the fact that it came so soon after their first was probably more disappointing.

“They’re the ones we’ve have to put down to experience with two very young central defenders who haven’t played together and in the case of Danny Simpson, who I thought did ever so well, hasn’t played there very often.

“I think we can put that one down to experience but we showed enough character to come back. Steven Taylor and Fabricio Colocinni didn’t play but I wouldn’t read too much into that.” Both Taylor and Coloccini have been linked with moves away from Tyneside and were not even on the bench, but Hughton was clearly using the game against League One opposition as an exercise in squad rotation. Tamas Kadar, Nile Ranger and Kazenga LuaLua all made full debuts in the clash.