Harper dementerar oroligheter inom truppen
När resten av spelartruppen gör sig redo inför matchen mot Nottingham Forest tar Steven Harper chansen att lugna media i samband med ett träningspass. Harmonin i truppen är intakt, lovar han. Det trots den senare tidens oroligheter som slutade med Steven Taylors brutna käke.
Harper tilläts inte diskutera incidenten närmare. Istället fokuserade han hellre på 1–0-segern mot Doncaster. Matchvinnare blev – just det – Andy Carroll. Hans 16:e fullträff för säsongen.
"We've got a great team spirit here and we've shown that all season. To come to a place like Doncaster against an in-form team and come away with a win shows how resilient we are as a team. The team spirit is fantastic. You don't come to places like this and grind out away wins without it. The lads showed that again against Doncaster."
“It was a very important win because when we look back at the end of the season I suspect we will look back at this as a big, big night. We knew it was going to be tough because Doncaster have been on a good run and are on the edge of the play-offs. The conditions were bad but we dug it out."
Harper och resten av skatorna ställs mot tredjeplacerade Forest hemma på Tyneside måndag kväll. Ska man tro målvakten så håller Carrolls goda vårform i sig ett tag till.
“He has been outstanding. He took his goal well, got through and hasn't panicked, going round the goalkeeper. It was another important goal for us. We needed it and it gave us the opportunity to hang on to it and we could have got a second. Andy has scored 16 goals this season which is fantastic.”
“Andy could be a top player. He has really come on a lot this season. He works hard on his game and he is really developing. His goal tally this season, particularly when you consider he wasn't always in the team at the start of the season, is very impressive and he could have had more. I'm sure he will be looking to finish the season strongly.”
Harper firar också det faktum att han skrivit sig in i historieböckerna genom att säkra klubbens 19:e nolla för säsongen i matchen mot Doncaster.
“It's nice we've broken the record. My name might go in the record books but it's a real team effort. It's about everybody who gets out on to the pitch, as well as the staff who put so much work in behind the scenes to get us organised.”
“It does give us a lot of satisfaction because this is a tough league, especially away from home. As a team we've beaten the record and hopefully we can extend it before the rest of the season."
“I don't know whether it's only because have dropped down. We've had some fabulous defenders through the years and some quality goalkeepers. The poor defense thing has been thrown at Newcastle for years and it has stuck. So it's nice to get some recognition for how good we have been defensively this season.”
