|
" The whole squad has been working hard over the last three weeks and I think it showed today. We had to work extremely hard on our shape and we kept their chances down to a few which was great. Then when we had it we tried to exploit, we got behind and played some decent stuff I think.
" I think we competed and when we kept the ball we moved it on very, very quickly forward. We matched them for fitness which is excellent because they have got lots of pace and obviously some fantastic individuals. We kept our shape to make it hard to break down and I'm very, very pleased at this time of the pre-season.
" We said at half-time to keep on moving the ball forward a little bit quicker. I thought that when we moved it one or two-touch we had a little bit more space. When we didn't we dwelt on it a little bit and obviously they were closing us down very, very quickly. They were trying to stop us coming out from the back and we had that fine mixture of going long and trying to pick the seconds up and obviously playing out from the back, which was more pleasing than anything really.
" It was a great goal for us, a great ball in, that's what he does, he has got good delivery has Marc Bridge-Wilkinson and it was a fantastic header from Danny Livesey. It's amazing, the better player you play against your senses become more alive and as well as Danny the rest of the defence had to be more alert. They had to be ready because if they weren't then they were going to be exploited. It's disappointing to concede a goal right at the end but that's a good learning curve for us as well because if we do switch off then they punish us.
" Their goal was right in the top corner, Keiren (Westwood's) hands and position has been fantastic but I don't think anybody could have stopped that one. The most pleasing thing is the fitness and the sharpness looked a hell of a lot better and we move on to the next game, because that's all it is, a pre-season game ready for Walsall.
" I still think we need two new players, we need a defender and another forward to have really top class competition for places. The midfield has got plenty of people battling for each position and we just need that one more defender and one more forward to put pressure on everybody else.
" The crowd was great and obviously we thank Newcastle for bringing their supporters across with their team and for Sam (Allardyce) for putting out a really, really strong team which tested us for the full 90 minutes, which is what I wanted. It's pleasing that we got the crowd average up last season and obviously this is the first time they have seen their team at home this season. We've had a fantastic turnout and long may that continue. "