London - Alan Pardew knows the pressure of being Newcastle United manager will never ease while they are bottom of the Premier League but he hoped the 3-2 extra time victory at Crystal Palace in the League Cup on Wednesday would kick-start the recovery.
Newcastle have just three points and no victories from their opening five Premier League games and their only wins so far have come in two League Cup ties.
While that competition may provide a welcome break, reviving their league fortunes is paramount.
“The pressure's not going to go away from us while we're Newcastle United and we sit bottom of the league and we haven't won a Premier League game,” Pardew, whose side have won just once in 13 games dating back to March, told Sky Sports News.
“We've got to put that right and we've got two tough away games. We're here for the long-haul and we've got a lot of games to go.
“There's a big big season still to play. This season there's still all to play for and we're looking forward to building on this small step.”
Thousands of disgruntled Newcastle fans brandished posters reading 'Sack Pardew' in a mass protest against the 53-year-old during Saturday's home match against Hull City.
However a defiant Pardew refused to bow to the pressure and watched on as Papiss Cisse scored two goals to rescue a point, and possibly the manager's job.
“Papiss has sparked us into life with those two goals on Saturday and it was great that Manu [Emmanuele Riviere] has followed that up with two for himself [against Palace],” said the boss.
“We've played well enough to win a Premier League game this year but we've lacked that cutting edge. It's very, very important that your strikers score goals and thank goodness we've got that,” he added. – Reuters