“There’s three months to go and all I can do is train hard every day. I said to the manager whatever happens – injuries, suspension or whatever – he can rely on me if he does need me. That’s all I can do, concentrate on training, and if I do get picked for the Europa League I’ve got to perform.

“Once the manager picks me and I’m on the pitch it’s up to me to show what I can do. We’ll just have to see in the summer what happens.”

Newcastle’s decision not to register first-choice right-back Debuchy for the Europa League – they were only able to add one player in January who had featured in this season’s Champions League, and opted for Yanga-Mbiwa – means the competition is Simpson’s best route to first-team football before May.

“We’ve brought in players the club needed and they’ve settled in really well, they’re quality players,” he reflected.

“Hopefully I’ve staked a claim a little bit in this competition (in Kharkiv) or at least given him (Pardew) something to think about. It’s massively important for me.

“I’ve got through a tough game so if I can keep training hard, hopefully the manager will pick me.”

United’s next European game is away to Anzhi Makhachkala a week tomorrow, with the return at St James’ Park seven days later.

Able to attract players of the calibre of Samuel Eto’o with their grotesque wealth, the Dagestan club will go into the tie as favourites. But Simpson believes Newcastle showed in Kharkiv they know how to get through these tricky away trips.

“Every away game in the Europa League is tough and away goals are massively important,” said Simpson.

“We knew it was going to be tough in Kharkiv because they’re a good little team. But the gameplan worked and once we got the goal we knew we’d have to dig in deep and defend as a team, all 11 of us and the subs.

“We had a gameplan and it worked down to a tee. In the first 20 minutes we had a good spell. They were the home team so we had to deal with their pressure but I think just before the penalty we were starting to get into the game more and it looked like we were going to get a goal.

“Then in the last 20 minutes you have to dig deep and defend. If they did get through us, Tim (Krul, Newcastle’s goalkeeper) stopped everything.”