Lovenkrands tribute

06 April 2010 09:47
AN emotional Peter Lovenkrands dedicated Newcastle's promotionwinning campaign to the memory of his late father.[LNB] The Danish striker coolly slotted home a penalty just before half-time to set up a victory over Sheffield United that put the gloss on a night of celebration for the Magpies.[LNB] Lovenkrands' strength of character in putting aside personal loss to help fire Newcastle's return to the top flight typifies the resilience shown by Chris Hughton's side this season.[LNB] Since his father died in January, the Newcastle striker has celebrated his goals by pointing to the sky in a gesture of tribute.[LNB] He performed the same ritual following his equalising strike against the Blades and after the game spoke movingly about his father's influence.[LNB] My father would have been proud. I hope that he is looking down on us and is happy.[LNB] It has been a tough season for me and I am just pleased to end it in such a good way.[LNB] It helps a lot to bring a smile back knowing we are going back to the Premier League. It has been a great achievement and we are delighted, he said.[LNB] Of course this does help make amends for relegation.[LNB] A lot of people probably didn't expect us to bounce back straight away but we've shown that we can just that.[LNB] Since we went down it means so much to the fans to get back up there in the first season. It's congratulations to everybody for a great job done.[LNB] I'm pleased on a personal level but it isn't achieved on your own. You need a team behind you to help get the goals.[LNB] They have been supporting me with a lot of great passes and that has helped me to get the goals. Winger Jonas Gutierrez urged his team-mates to complete the campaign by claiming the Championship title.[LNB] The most important thing was getting back to the Premier League. The second aim is to finish top this is a big club and we have the opportunity to win something and we'd like to fight and win the Championship, said the Argentina international.[LNB] It is a long season. Did we have any doubts No, never, never, never.[LNB] It was difficult when we started but the team and the club were all together and that was important for us.[LNB] We were all going the same way and all the team had to do was play football.''[LNB]

Source: Northern_Echo