Pardew pleased with point

Newcastle manager Alan Pardew feels his team’s defensive performance to gain a 1-1 draw against Manchester United was ‘heroic’.

While the points were the shared in Saturday’s English Premier League match at Old Trafford, the visitors came out the happier side after a controversial Demba Ba penalty cancelled out Manchester United’s opener from Javier Hernandez.

Even though there was some doubt over the legitimacy of the penalty, Pardew was keen to praise the efforts and attitude of his side in the difficult away tie.

“We deserved it (the point) on a number of fronts I would say,” Pardew said.

“One was the positive outlook we had on the game, especially in the first half where I thought we played really well and contained the ball and caused Man United problems.”

“You’ve got to remember it’s Man United, this is a really, really difficult place to come to have that attitude.”

“I don’t even know where to start with the second half, it was all going off, but (there was) heroic defending.”

“I think the attitude and our defending probably deserved a point. The heroism in that box was unbelievable. It was a fantastic game and a great advert for the Premier League.”

“They (the Newcastle players) were Geordie heroes. They really were.”

United manager Ferguson was furious at the penalty decision, awarded against Rio Ferdinand for a tackle on Hatem Ben Arfa.

Referee Mike Jones initially waved away the appeals, before pointing to the spot after consulting with his assistant.

“To not get the three points from that is just a travesty,” Ferguson said.

“It was everyone’s view, including the referee. He thought Rio won the ball and gave a corner. He has let the linesman overrule him.”

“We absolutely slaughtered them but we just couldn’t get the result.”

“It is disappointing but if we play like that every week, I will be very happy.”