ALAN Pardew hailed a towering performance from £6million signing Vurnon Anita as his Newcastle United side moved to within touching distance of the Europa League’s last 32.

Delighted Pardew felt that a crop of his fringe men made their points at the Jan Breydelstadion, singling out Sammy Ameobi and Sylvain Marveaux for particular praise as Newcastle battled back from two goals down in a memorable Europa League encounter in the heart of Flanders.

Marveaux looked bereft of confidence in the early stages of a testing night in Bruges but improved vastly in the second half to prompt Pardew to predict a big future for the former Rennes man.

But it was the performance of his Holland international – who Pardew praised as a “class act” – that warmed Pardew’s cockles as he headed back to the North East last night.

“I thought everyone played well tonight, I really did. Anita had his best game for us,” he said.

“I don’t care how much money you have cost or what club you have been at before, you need to play well in the new shirt and really, that’s his first really good game where he looked like a class act.

“He got a great goal, he was good all night, so that was a real bonus tonight and it will give him confidence going forward. I thought that Sylvain, who had a difficult game at Everton, came back and looked bright tonight, he looked sharp. When we have got no Cabaye, we need Sylvain because he gives us an intelligent pass, and I thought he did that tonight.

“There were a lot of good things that came out of the game.”