Source: Telegraph
Newcastle loss to Derby will act as 'wake-up call' insists Steve Harper
Just four days after hammering Cardiff 5-1, Newcastle United were knocked off the top of the Championship table in a 3-0 defeat by Derby at Pride Park and Harper is banking on the result ridding St James' Park of any complacency.[LNB]'It's a massive wake-up call for everybody to do with the football club who thought we just had the right to go straight out of this league,' Harper said.[LNB]'We have to earn it, and last night we didn't do that. That's this league it's what the Championship's like.[LNB]'We were looking to get two good results away from home, but after the high of Friday night, to lose 3-0, our biggest defeat of the season, is very, very, very disappointing.[LNB]'It's a massive wake-up call and we have to demand a response from everybody on Saturday.'[LNB]Newcastle head to promotion-chasing Swansea this weekend and Harper has acknowledged his team have to bounce quickly to regain pole position from West Bromwich Albion.[LNB]'We're together there's not going to be any splits in the camp and we need a response on Saturday,' Harper said following Newcastle's first loss in the league since they were beaten 2-1 by Scunthorpe last October. 'At Scunthorpe we demanded a response, and we've got to do that now.'[LNB]Harper will be expecting better from his defenders when they head to Wales following the humbling by Nigel Clough's Derby.[LNB]He continued: 'They were poor goals. From a free-kick we've been turned, and you can't give Rob Hulse a free header.[LNB]'The second one's a needless penalty. He wasn't going anywhere, and we brought him down. We had a mountain to climb at 2-0.[LNB]'For the third one, we've cleared it, and after we've won the initial header, we've had two chances to clear it, and the lad's hit it through a crowd.[LNB]'We're 3-0 down away from home, and left ourselves a massive mountain to climb. We couldn't respond.'[LNB]
