Chris Hughton insists: Magpies were up for the fight

Feb 10 2010 by Luke Edwards, The Journal

CHRIS Hughton has denied Newcastle United were complacent in their 3-0 defeat at Derby County last night although he refused to allow anyone to use the referee as an excuse.

Newcastle were denied a perfectly good equaliser from Andy Carroll early in the second half because of a referee’s blunder, but the Magpies were well beaten in the end as they surrendered their lead at the top of the table to West Bromwich Albion for the first time in three months.

And, with just one away win in their last seven attempts, Newcastle will be under renewed pressure when they make the long trip to South Wales on Saturday to take on Swansea.

Hughton said: “It would be too easy to blame the officials although I thought their penalty for their second goal was very soft. It was the sort of penalty we would like to receive, especially as we’ve only been given one all season.

“That came at a crucial time in the game and it was a turning point in the game. On the balance of play, it was an even game in terms of chances and Wayne Routledge had a really good chance when we were 1-0 down.

“We were always a threat, I didn’t think they were better than us but they put the ball in the back of the net and we didn’t.” After such a long unbeaten run, United’s strength of character will once again be under scrutiny as Hughton argued it had not been a case of after the Lord Mayor’s Show at Derby.

He said: “I would refute that accusation. We knew we had a really tough game here after the excellent performance against Cardiff and we got exactly that. We didn’t get that little bit of fortune you need.

“I don’t think there was a hangover at all. We have to dust ourselves down and take it on the chin. We have conceded three goals, which isn’t something we are used to doing. But we have to move on and look to bounce back against Swansea. It is a setback but there were always going to be highs and lows between now and the end of the season.

“We’ve another tough away game at Swansea coming up – we must make sure this sort of thing doesn’t happen again.”