McAuley: Owls stars did me proud

The home side put Newcastle under pressure in the opening stages at Hillsborough, without creating a clear-cut chance until they opened the scoring after 14 minutes when Luke Varney met a cross from James O'Connor with a close-range header.Kevin Nolan equalised with a header from Danny Guthrie's cross and Shola Ameobi put Newcastle in front as the visitors scored twice in eight minutes.O'Connor, however, struck a 59th-minute equaliser as the Owls earned a welcome point to the delight of caretaker manager McAuley."They're a difficult nut to crack and I think we did really well," he said."Nobody expected us to get anything out of the game so that took a bit of pressure off."The players deserve all the credit. We were really pleased with the way they approached the game."They played with no fear and I thought their reaction in the second half was spot on because we needed to stay disciplined."Maybe if we can get a strong foothold in games coming up, the creativity will follow."Newcastle boss Chris Hughton was disappointed that Wednesday's equaliser was allowed to stand, following an apparent foul on goalkeeper Steve Harper.Hughton, however, was far from satisfied with his side's display."It was most definitely a foul for their equaliser, but it wasn't one of our better performances," said Hughton."We have no given right to win any game and we faced a spirited Sheffield Wednesday side."We didn't start the game well and gave away a poor goal."I think it's disappointing, whenever you lead in a game, if you don't go on and finish the job off."Hughton revealed that Alan Smith will be available for selection for Monday evening's game at home to Derby, having missed the match with an ankle knock."It would have been too big a risk to play him today but he'll be available on Monday," said Hughton.

Source: Team_Talk