Pardew delight after ´special´ display

Newcastle manager Alan Pardew feels his side could achieve something special this season after their 5-0 thumping of West Ham on Wednesday.

Missing top scorer Andy Carroll and fellow striker Shola Ameobi through injury, Pardew gave Leon Best his Premier League debut and was rewarded with interest.

Best made the most of the rare start by bagging a hat-trick, his first goals for the club, while Kevin Nolan and Peter Lovenkrands also chipped in with goals that saw Newcastle move to eighth in the table.

“It was a special night tonight,” Pardew told SkySports.

“We were very, very good. It was a great performance from individuals but what pleases me most is the organisation of the team. There’s a real structure about us and we looked solid tonight.”

“If we can keep like that, not lose our way, and when we get beat make sure we react well, we could have a really good season.”

Pardew sung the praises of Best after his match-winning feats, while also praising key midfielder Joey Barton who continued his inspirational form.

“He (Best) has been banging on my door to play and he knew over the Christmas period there was going to be an opportunity,” he said.

“You have to admire him because we haven’t done a lot of work on the training ground because of the conditions, but he kept his focus and I could see a real hunger in his eyes.”

“And he had a midfield behind him today that put in a display that was outstanding.”

“He was the beneficiary of some great play, particularly from Joey Barton, who has given a performance here tonight that’s as good a midfield performance as I’ve seen.”

West Ham boss Avram Grant had no excuses for his team’s humiliating capitulation that saw them return to the foot of the standings.

“I can’t explain it because in the last few games we played we were very good in every aspect of football,” Grant said.

“Sometimes you have a bad day at the office, like when Sunderland came here (5-1). Everything that Newcastle did went well and everything that we tried didn’t go well.”

“We are not happy about what happened today because in the last game we played well.”