Shaun's Solid Aim

SHAUN Newton was the man called upon to fill the vacant spot at left-back after Paul Konchesky was controversially sent off in the 0-0 draw at Newcastle, and the normally right-sided player did an admirable job.

Newton celebrated his 30th birthday on Saturday by coming on early in the second-half as a replacement for Teddy Sheringham. But he spent just a matter of minutes on the right of midfield before switching to cover for the unlucky Konchesky's absence.

Nevertheless, Newton impressed with a typically solid performance to shut out the Newcastle attack and marked his birthday by helping Hammers secure a valuable point.

"Newcastle is a tough place to come and get a result," he said, "but we played really well throughout the game and always looked competitive against them.

"We played some nice football and thought that we could have had a chance to score before the sending off. Obviously that meant we had to change our objectives slightly, but we hung in and in the end more than deserved a point.

"The lads were pleased with a point considering the circumstances, but we were playing well enough to possibly have sneaked something else. Still, it was a great team performance and we showed lots of character after going down to 10 men, and those are things we'll take into the next game."

Newts featured several times at left-back during Hammers pre-season campaign, and although the former Wolves and Charlton player, who celebrated the third Premiership promotion of his career back in May, is more at home on the wing, he has no problem covering at full-back.

"It's a position I played during pre-season so I'm pretty familiar with," he explained. "It isn't my natural position, but I was more than comfortable dropping back to fill the gap and at the end of the day I was just pleased to be able to help the team get the point.

"I'll play in whatever role the manager asks me to and wherever he feels I can best serve the team. Obviously with a man down everyone has to sacrifice themselves for the good of the team to a certain extent.

"The work-rate and determination of the players was fantastic. We closed down the space really well, didn't give Newcastle a chance to settle on the ball and as a result they didn't create a lot of clear cut chances.

"When they did get through Roy Carroll made a couple of really good saves, but at the other end we had our chances as well and we can be more than satisfied with our performance.

"They way we've started in our first two games has definitely given us confidence, but we're not going to be getting carried away and now we're focusing on getting the best result we can from our next game against Bolton."