Alan Shearer has tried all different kinds of systems and made five changes today and it worked.
They had to win the football match and it didn’t matter how they did it, they managed to do that today and that gives them a great chance to stay in this division.
We spoke at the start of the game and said all they could think about was winning.
They went behind, against the run of play to be honest as they had the best of the play in the first five or ten minutes. But then they showed great character and we haven’t seen a lot of that this season.
They got themselves together and it was a great corner from Danny Guthrie. I thought his delivery into the box was good all night. Steven Taylor did get the run on Bates, even though he was blocked off by Kevin Nolan it is still a great run.
It is something they will have worked at on the training ground, the manager saying bump into whoever is coming in. I don’t think he will quite say put your leg in the way!
You can’t teach that kind of finish from Martins! But they will probably say they have not had that luck all season and that is exactly what they needed.
We worried about a young side when we saw Boro getting off the coach today. They were a young side and unfortunately they were not up to the task tonight.
The Lovenkrands goal was at a critical time, Middlesbrough could still get back into the game and Matthew Bates wins the header then goes down and he chases it back in, but it is a time for strong characters.
Ferdinand was speaking during Setanta's coverage of Newcastle v Middlesbrough.