Eddie Howe credited a change in attitude from his Newcastle players after they claimed a 1-0 win over Fulham at Craven Cottage. (More Football News)
Bruno Guimaraes arrived late at the edge of the box to smash home in the 81st minute, not long after referee Sam Allison had ruled their first strike out for a foul.
Howe’s side failed to get going in the first half but he lauded their shift in mentality during a break in play where goalkeeper Martin Dubravka received treatment.
“I’m relieved. It was a very difficult opening 25 minutes, we were second best, we suffered,” he said.
“A change of attitude from us made the difference, we were stretched and there are reasons why we weren’t at our best in the opening period but it was an incredible response and I think it was one of our best wins of the season.
“We needed to look at things differently, we were a little bit reactive, a little bit late on things and that’s not like us. We were lucky to come into half-time at 0-0 and that was another opportunity.”
Guimaraes’ strike put him on four for the campaign and the Brazil international battled during a scrappy affair in west London.
Howe talked up the midfielder’s efforts to help his side claim victory after their 1-1 draw with Everton last time out.
“I wax lyrical of him all the time and that’s because I genuinely feel it,” Howe added.
“He’s got an incredible personality and you could feel that today. He had the quality on the ball to help us win the game and I thought that was a really good performance from him.”
Marco Silva believes Newcastle told Dubravka to go down for “tactical” reasons after the Slovakian keeper required treatment on two occasions.
Silva said: “It was tactical. The first one is clear, there was feedback for the goalkeeper to go down. As you know, if the goalkeeper goes down the referee has to stop the game, there’s no way for the game to keep going, it’s a tactical decision from them. It is what it is.
“It’s a decision of Eddie (Howe).
“Newcastle tried to break our momentum with the goalkeeper (going down) twice on the grass, they were struggling in that moment and in moments of the first half.”
Howe acknowledged the injury allowed Newcastle to “refocus and regroup”, insisting the keeper had felt something in his leg.
He said: “Martin was feeling something in his leg. We said he has to go down if he’s feeling something so that gave us a chance to get the group in and that was much needed in that moment of the game.”
