Hughton remains upbeat

04 March 2009 23:12
Chris Hughton remains confident that Newcastle can secure Premier League survival this season. The Magpies' caretaker boss saw his side slip deeper into trouble on Wednesday as they were beaten 2-1 by Manchester United at St James' Park. Peter Lovenkrands had given the hosts the perfect start after nine minutes, but goals from Wayne Rooney and Dimitar Berbatov earned the Red Devils an 11th straight top-flight success. The setback leaves the North East outfit just a point above the relegation zone with 10 games to play. While the situation is far from ideal, Hughton believes the Magpies have enough about them to steer clear of danger. "It's vital that we put on that type of performance right through to the end of the season," he told Sky Sports. "I was delighted with the performance. In the form that Manchester United are in, to be able in a lot of periods of the game to take the game to them, take the lead and go very close to getting a second speaks volumes for this group of players. "We need to take that type of form and that type of quality into our next games to give us a good chance it what will be a very hard end of season." Hughton was impressed by the manner in which his side battled gamely against the Premier League leaders in midweek, with only a defensive error from Ryan Taylor proving to be difference between the two teams. "I'm sure most people will have felt that once they got back on level terms it was only a matter of time before they got the second, and arguably a third," he said. "But we got ourselves straight back into the game and caused them a lot of problems, and unfortunately gave away a poor goal."

Source: SKY_Sports