Bruce thinks fight to stay up could go the distance
STEVE BRUCE says Newcastle must be ready for their survival fight to go to the wire after drawing at West Brom.
The Magpies battled to a dull 0-0 stalemate at The Hawthorns to move up to 16th in the Premier League.
The second-bottom Baggies are eight points from safety with ten games left, with the Magpies nine points better off than Sam Allardyce’s side.
Newcastle climbed a point above Brighton to put a turbulent week behind them after Matt Ritchie’s clash with Bruce and the loss of Miguel Almiron and Allan Saint-Maximin to injury, but Fulham’s win at Liverpool leaves them just a point off the bottom three and Bruce conceded it may take until the final day to survive.
‘We have to be ready for it, we hope not and hope we can pick up enough points. But we have shown signs we are doing okay after a dismal run of games,’ said the Magpies manager.
‘To be without them (injured players) and get a point really pleased me, the attitude and spirit is what got them the point. We are disappointed we didn’t win but the one vitally important thing was we didn’t get beaten, with the problems we have had.’
Darnell Furlong’s block from Joelinton’s cross stopped Ryan Fraser having a tap-in, while Mbaye Diagne shot over and forced Martin Dubravka into a smart stop in the first half.
Matt Phillips skied over after the break but the Baggies could not find a winner and needed Sam Johnstone to turn Joe Willock’s drive wide.
Allardyce said: ‘I sound like a record stuck, looking back to chances missed in the last four or five games. I can’t knock the lads too much because of the effort. It means we have to win the next game to stay alive. At one stage we will have to win every game.’