We rallied around Clark, says Wilson
CALLUM Wilson has revealed that Newcastle United players rallied around Ciaran Clark after the defender was sent off against Norwich City.
Newcastle had to play the final 81 minutes of Tuesday night’s 1-1 draw with 10 men after Clark was shown a red card after pulling Teemu Pukki back when the striker was through on goal.
It left Newcastle with a mountain to climb although the spirited Magpies did manage to take the lead through Wilson before Pukki equalised late on.
Newcastle remain bottom, six points from safety, but Jonjo Shelvey stressed he ‘wasn’t going to criticise’ Clark after the game. In fact, Shelvey even went as far as to say his team-mate had helped Newcastle earn a point after denying Pukki the opportunity to score.
Rather than dwell on the incident, Howe told his players ‘how well’ he thought they coped with a ‘difficult moment’ and Wilson felt similarly.
“Everyone, to a man, has put a shift in,” the stand-in skipper told NUFC TV. “The boys are dead on their feet in there.
“It’s difficult when they’ve got an extra body. You have large spells without the ball, but you have to credit players playing out of position.
“Joelinton playing out of position. Fede [Fernandez] coming into the squad and, obviously, being needed after 10 minutes. Ryan [Fraser] was sacrificed but was so positive within the team.
“Clarkie’s obviously disappointed to get the red card but we’re a team, we’re together, so we’re all around him.
“We’re all taking each other and making sure we’re picking each other up and getting ready for the game at the weekend and recovery starts now.”