Hughton hails his table toppers

06 February 2010 10:12
CHRIS Hughton last night hailed his record breakers after Newcastle United extended their unbeaten league run to 15 matches, a sequence that breaks a club record that had stood since 1950.[LNB] Andy Carroll and Peter Lovenkrands scored two goals apiece, with a Gabor Gyepes own goal completing a 5-1 rout of fellow promotion chasers Cardiff City.[LNB] Newcastle's last defeat in the Championship came at Scunthorpe United on October 20, and the subsequent 15 matches have seen the Magpies open up a six-point gap at the top of the table.[LNB] Hughton regards the threeand- a-half month unbeaten run as a significant achievement, particularly given Newcastle's status as the biggest scalp in the whole of the Football League.[LNB] It's a big achievement,[LNB] said the Magpies manager, who fielded all six of his January signings as Newcastle equalled their biggest victory of the season. This group of lads deserve all the credit that goes along with it.[LNB] We are a strong team in this division, but that has brought pressure from day one. We are a big club in the Championship, but that means we are there to be shot at. There's pressure everywhere we go. That's something we've had to deal with, but we've dealt with it well.[LNB] With Wayne Routledge and Leon Best both impressing on their first home start, Newcastle produced their most expansive performance of the season as they brushed aside a Cardiff side who were unbeaten in their previous eight games.[LNB] Hughton was delighted to see his players cutting loose, and while he continues to view some of this season's battling one-goal wins with special pride, last night's swashbuckling display was good as anything that St James' Park has witnessed for a number of years.[LNB] That was certainly our most open performance and I'm sure many of the supporters will view it as their most enjoyable game of the season, he said.[LNB] The fact that it was a night game helped with the atmosphere, and the two early goals obviously helped set the mood.[LNB] We also had Routledge and Jonas (Gutierrez) going down the flanks, and we know our supporters love to see that type of player. We managed to score five, and we weren't really able to do that earlier in the season.[LNB] There have been some really good performances you can draw special satisfaction from a hard-fought away win like the result at Sheffield United but from a footballing point of view, that was probably the best we've played.[LNB] Hughton reserved special praise for Carroll, who scored two of Newcastle's opening three goals and set up the other with a shot that hit the post and resulted in Gyepes' own goal.[LNB] Earlier in the week, the Newcastle boss claimed that none of his strikers were capable of wearing the club's legendary No 9 shirt. After watching last night's display from Carroll, though, his stance could already be softening.[LNB] Potentially, he's No 9 material,[LNB] said Hughton. He's a player that likes to lead the line and, in some ways, he's a very old-fashioned type of centre-forward.[LNB] He's got lots and lots of potential. He's very good in the air but, for a big man, he also has very good footballing skills.[LNB] He's needed to add goals to his game, but he's done that tonight and, on another night, he could even have had one or two more.[LNB] He's always been capable of producing that sort of performance.[LNB] He just has to keep on producing it over a sustained period of time.[LNB] Aston Villa are to hold talks in the summer with midfielder James Milner regarding a new contract.[LNB] Milner signed a four-year deal when he became Villa's record signing in a £12 million switch from Newcastle 18 months ago and is under contract until June 2012.[LNB] But Villa will act during the close season to attempt to tie down the 24-year-old on a longer term basis.[LNB]

Source: Northern_Echo