Stoke 2 Newcastle 1: We deserved to win, insists Alan Pardew
Stoke 2 Newcastle 1: Alan Pardew insisted he was pleased with his side's display despite watching Magpies lose again
Alan Pardew insisted he could not fault his side’s attitude after Newcastle United surrendered a second-half lead at Stoke City to slump to their fourth straight loss on Wednesday.
Papiss Cisse scored his first goal in five Premier League games when he finished from close range after Asmir Begovic failed to parry Demba Ba’s effort to safety.
However, goals from Jonathan Walters and Cameron Jerome in the final nine minutes completed Stoke’s comeback to heap more misery on Pardew’s side, who are now 14th in the table.
“It’s a blow for us, because our fans who came tonight will know that we deserved to win,” Pardew told Newcastle’s website.
“We were in a comfortable position, worked really hard all night and two sucker blows have cost us the game.
“They hadn’t caused us a problem until a goal out of nothing really, and then a mistake for the second and we’ve ended up with no points.
“It’s hard to look your players in the eye when they’ve delivered the game plan and put in great performance but you still lose. That is hard to take.”
Stoke manager Tony Pulis refused to get carried away by his side’s potential after a four-game unbeaten run pushed the Potters up to ninth.
“We won’t get carried away, we’ve had a couple of very good results at home, to take six points from Fulham and Newcastle is very, very pleasing but at this football club whether we’re third from bottom or ninth it makes no difference, we just carry on what we do and we do it to the best of our ability,” said Pulis.
