Newcastle United manager Steve McClaren has heaped praise on his side's fighting spirit following their 1-0 victory over West Bromwich Albion this afternoon.
Aleksandar Mitrovic scored the only goal of the game for the Magpies to lift them out of the relegation zone, despite McClaren being forced into naming a number of players who were short of match fitness.
It perhaps should have been more as Newcastle squandered a number of other chances, and McClaren is hopeful that his side can continue to improve going into the closing months of the season.
"The three points are enormous. We said, 'If we win today, we'll get out of the bottom three', which is important. But you have to gather the points," he told reporters.
"This was a patched-up team, especially the defence, and we know - and I am hoping and I believe - that we will get stronger as the season comes to an end. Our squad will get stronger and better when we get people fit and defenders back.
"But the heroes today were the likes of Steven Taylor, Cheick Tiote and Rolando Aarons, who we threw in really and were probably not ready, but through cramp and everything got through 90 minutes. I'm not setting targets, but our next game is Chelsea, that's going to be tough, but we have just got to keep going forward, getting people fit and making sure consistently we put in performances like that."
Newcastle are now one point clear of Norwich City, who were beaten by rock-bottom Aston Villa this afternoon.
Barney Corkhill
