Source: SKY_Sports
Shearer salutes brave display
Alan Shearer declared himself pleased with Newcastle's performance following the 1-1 draw with Stoke.
The Magpies looked set to suffer a second straight defeat under their new manager when Abdoulaye Faye headed home from a corner in the first half.
Stoke tried to unsettle Newcastle with their effective set-piece routines but Shearer was pleased with how his men rose to the challenge, especially in the second period.
Newcastle gradually began to push Stoke back as the match wore on and were rewarded when substitute Andy Carroll found the target nine minutes from time.
Shearer believes his side could have gone on to win the match but was nevertheless satisfied with the result.
"Particularly (in the) second half I thought we were much braver," Shearer said on Sky Sports News.
"I told them at half-time that we had to move Stoke around a little bit because while they are standing still they are comfortable because they are big, strong lads.
"There was a bombardment after five minutes of the second half but we handled that well and we came out and we played our game and imposed ourselves on them.
"I suppose if I am greedy I thought we were going to go on and get three points because we have got some big lads in our team as well.
"One of the reasons we played two or three extra big ones was to handle the threat of (Ricardo) Fuller and (James) Beattie and I thought our back three were brilliant."
