Man of the Hour

Newcastle manager Chris Hughton praised his "spirited" players after they saw off local rivals Sunderland 5-1 at St James' Park on Sunday.

Recent reports suggested that Hughton's position was under threat before the club issued a statement this week regarding a new deal.  He said:

"I can't do anything about my contract situation, all I can do is the best job I can.  I'm helped by a group of spirited players that are capable of anything. They are playing in a very, very tough league and I'm buoyed on by them."

Newcastle dominated their north-east rivals from start to finish.  They were 3-0 up by half-time thanks to a double from Kevin Nolan and a Shola Ameobi penalty.

The Black Cats' day took a further turn for the worse when former Magpie Titus Bramble was sent off for a professional foul on striker Andy Carroll, before Ameobi scored his second and Nolan grabbed his third to complete the rout.  Hughton added:

"It's difficult to pick out one player on a day which was very special for the team.  It would have been special for the back four and keeper to come away with a clean sheet but Sunderland are a handful up front and we defended well."

Hughton also showed his appreciation for the home section of the 51 988 crowd who turned up at St James' Park and sang their praises for the former Spurs assistant.

"The crowd chanting is a nice feeling - they're a fantastic crowd.  Anybody who hasn't been to St James' before now, knows what it's like now."

Meanwhile, opposite number Steve Bruce offered an apology to the Sunderland fans, who supported Newcastle as a child. 

"The mark of any team or any individual is how you respond to it.  All I can do is apologise. When you get beaten as badly as that, here of all places, it will take a lot of recovering.  Me, as manager, I will take full responsibility. Anything that could have gone wrong went wrong, from red cards to mistakes.

I have been saying all week that we must handle the occasion. But from the off, we didn't and we got blown away by a far superior team on the day.  We were playing a big derby game and we had three or four players. To win it, you need seven or eight - that's what Newcastle had and we didn't have enough and we got our backsides kicked."

Sunderland top scorer Darren Bent scored a late consolation goal.

BBC.