Brighton debacle is a thing of the past, insists the head coach

STEVE Bruce believes his Newcastle players proved they have put their Brighton nightmare behind them with their display against Tottenham.

The Magpies fought back to earn a 2-2 draw with sixth-placed Spurs on Sunday, moving them three points ahead of relegation rivals Fulham in the battle to beat the drop.

Sunday’s result came two weeks after another low in the form of a 3-0 humiliation on the south coast, which saw pressure on Bruce reach a new peak.

The club swiftly made it clear the under-fire head coach still has their backing.

On Sunday, the players produced a performance which showed they are still fighting, something which impressed Bruce.

He said after the Spurs game: “Look, in football you can play poorly but it is sometimes the manner of it.

“What I will enlighten you with is they were our best physical stats of the whole season two weeks ago at Brighton, so it was not for the lack of effort or endeavour.

“We just did not play well enough on the day.

“When you have a performance like that, the one thing you need is a response and the players to a man have responded in the right way.”

Bruce made five changes to his side which included the return of former Scotland international Matt Ritchie, a player with whom he had a training-ground spat last month.

The 60-year-old said he was eager to play a side which had trained together for most of the international break.

Bruce added: “We did not pick too many who had been away on international duty so there was a certain freshness about us.”